


The Compelled

by Madd4the24



Category: Glee
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Alternate Universe - Fusion, Alternate Universe - Magic, Drama, Kurt could use the winchesters, M/M, Rachel Berry is insufferable, Romance, Witches, teenage angst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-02-11
Updated: 2013-08-19
Packaged: 2017-11-28 23:48:45
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 22
Words: 168,053
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/680260
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Madd4the24/pseuds/Madd4the24
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When Kurt's father died in an accidental fire he felt as if the world were ending. The event marked the death of his last living parent and he was forced to uproot from Ohio and move across the country to Washington to stay with his Uncle Andy. Taking the adjustment in stride, Kurt did his best to blend in, lay low, and keep out of trouble until he was old enough to escape to college and away from the pain of his past.</p><p>His plan would have worked perfectly well if he hadn't moved to a town where most of the general population seemed to know him better than he knew himself, and they all certainly knew his father. And then in one single moment Kurt's life changed once more, throwing him into a world of magic that he could hardly believe existed, and up against forces of power he barely understood, but would destroy him without hesitation. </p><p>And then there was Sebastian.  One lone, angry boy who had always been meant for Kurt, and who both resented and loved him for the truth of it. </p><p>(A Glee/Secret Circle fusion)</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> I'd just like to start off that this is specifically a The Secret Circle/Glee fusion fic. But more accurately, it's a TV version fusion of The Secret Circle. Very recently I read several of the books and hated them for various reason, but ended up watching the TV show, which lost a lot of steam and coherency towards the end, but was still very enjoyable. The books are very different from the TV show, so fans of the books probably won't think of this as a fusion at all, but I'm hoping TV fans will. I'm still not sure how I got the idea to blend those elements with Glee characters, but it did happen some how, and this fic practically wrote itself. 
> 
> Fans of the TV show will notice some similarities between the fic and the TV show as far as events go, because I did try to stay at least related to the source material at the beginning, but eventually I diverged off. So some things will be familiar, and some won't be. It is a fusion, but not a strict one. I took artistic liberties and had fun.
> 
> But I want to be very clear, you do not need to have watched the TV show at all to enjoy this fic. I've explained everything in this fusion universe. No prior knowledge is required.
> 
> That said, this fic is complete. I will update every Wednesday/Thursday unless real life gets in the way, or something specifically comes up. I'm also posting very soon with my bigbang, so that my impact an update as well, but hopefully not.

Kurt let out a long winded sigh and nudged the bumper of the Toyota in front of him. It held for a moment, one brief second of reprieve, then clattered to the ground with a shriek of metal and cement. Fingers hooked into the edges of his coat, Kurt sighed again.

“So, um,” a voice asked from over Kurt’s shoulder, “do you think you can fix it?”

“It’s not a matter of if.” Kurt rounded the car, assessing the rest of the damage. He arched an eyebrow and inquired, “You are aware this is not a collision shop, correct?”

The man huffed a little, breath puffing out in a cloud of white smoke that lingered for too long, evidence of the temperature in the garage. In fact the main, double doors leading from the side street to the back of the garage were still open from where the tow truck had needed access to drop the unresponsive car. “I know. And if I cared first and foremost about the way the car looked, I’d be somewhere else. I’m more worried about the state of my engine, and what exactly seemed to be dripping from under my car.”

With a displeased look, Kurt knelt slowly to the ground, fingers shocked by the chill of the cement. He wanted to reach into his pockets and pull out his mittens. He’d only taken them off moments ago in the shop’s main office as he’d filled away the last of the day’s paperwork and been preparing to go home. They had a heater in the office and Kurt used it liberally, especially on cold Ohio nights.

“Dripping,” Kurt echoed back quietly, head ducking down. “Yes. I see it now.” He traced the problem with his eyes, taking in the twisted shape of the underbody and the growing pool of liquid that looked suspiciously colored. “It’s a coolant leak.” Kurt’s gaze narrowed. “And I can see from now that your oil reserve is ruptured. This particular Toyota model is notorious for poor placement of its parts. You, Mr. Fischer, have a problem.”

Kurt finally pulled himself to his feet, brushing his hands together momentarily. The wind from the open garage blew in suddenly and Kurt couldn’t wait to get home. It was past closing hours and he’d only let the man with the tow truck in because of the passenger’s desperate, almost lost expression. Kurt had never really been able to turn people away. Not when they needed help and he could do something.

“How bad?” the man asked. He was shivering in a too thin coat. He was an out of towner, Kurt surmised.

“Bad.” Kurt nodded his head towards the office. “Go ahead and go inside. Take a seat anywhere. I think both you and I would much prefer to talk in there. I’ll be in in a second.” 

As the man tottered off towards the glowing window framed room across the shop, Kurt hurried his way over to the double doors, retracting them in as fast as the mechanism would allow. He couldn’t help wishing he was home already. His father had promised him dinner from their favorite take-out place, and a night of movies on the couch until they both fell asleep until morning. They always spent Friday nights that way, talking and eating and reaffirming to Kurt that there would never be anyone more important to him than his father. Friday nights were the best moments of his life.

“I helped myself to some coffee. I hope you don’t mind.”

Kurt stomped his feet on the mat in the office as he entered, looking up at the sound of the man’s voice. “No. Of course not. Though it was probably pretty old. I was only minutes away from throwing it away when I saw your tow truck.”

The man sipped his coffee happily. “Beggars can’t be choosers. Isn’t that true? I’ve always fond it to be the case.”

Kurt rounded to the back of the desk of the office and said, “To be perfectly honest with you Mr. Fischer, it’s late and I’m ready to leave. I’d like to get to business as I’m already running later for something important.”

“Aren’t you a little young to be here by yourself?”

Kurt felt affronted. “I’m sixteen,” he said definitively, “and I have my mechanic’s license.” He thumbed to the plaque on the wall. “If you have any doubts about my competency, I’m certain that will reassure you. But just so we’re clear, this is my father’s shop. I was raised here, Mr. Fischer, and I’m more competent than a great deal of our mechanics who have been in the business for decades. And from what I’ve seen of your car Mr. Fisher, it’s going to take all of my time and knowledge to fix it for less than what it’s worth.”

Fischer scowled, “It’s that unsalvageable then?”

Kurt took out a pad of paper from the desk. “I’ll need to get it up on the lift, which I’ll do tomorrow, but from what I can see you’ve got one very severe coolant leak, your oil line is about to rupture and your engine block is misaligned. The last will case a series of problems, anything from air distribution issues to full engine seizure. Now, where are you staying?”

“Staying?” the man blinked oddly. 

“With family? Vacationing?” Kurt mumbled, “I can’t imagine anyone wanting to vacation in Ohio.” He quickly scratched the car’s information down on the pad. “You’re clearly from out of town. Everyone here would know to dress warmer than you have.”

Fischer leaned back in his chair, a smile pulling at his mouth. “I have a sister here. I’m visiting for the holiday.”

“Christmas?” Kurt wondered. But that had been weeks ago. “Could I have your full name and the street address and phone number where I can reach you?” Kurt wrote quickly as Fischer spoke. His stomach was moments away from rumbling. And his father was not above starting without him if Kurt lingered too long. 

Once the information was given, Fischer wondered, “You’re all alone here?”

Kurt gave him a pointed stare. “I sent my last mechanic home an hour ago. But I’m certainly not alone.” He signed his name to the work notice he planned on tacking up on the message board for Tom to see in the morning. “I’ll be back tomorrow to personally see to your car, Mr. Fischer, but I’m not making any promises. You might be better off scraping her at this point, at least from what I’ve seen.”

“Oh, no,” Fischer breathed out, “I don’t believe in giving up on things so easily.”

Kurt’s gaze lifted. “The car?”

Fischer grinned at him. “That is what we’re talking about here, isn’t it?”

There was a lump building in Kurt’ throat that he didn’t like for one second. His nerves felt on edge and he could sense the hair on the back of his arms, even through his heavy jacket, prickling up in warning. 

“You’re very special, aren’t you, Kurt?”

Breath caught in Kurt’s chest. “Excuse me?” 

“So young,” Fischer continued, “and also such an adult. Not many young men your age would be capable of what you are, Kurt.”

“I don’t,” Kurt forced out, “believe I told you my name.”

Fischer’s steely blue eyes cut to the mechanic’s license on the wall. “Kurt Hummel, isn’t it?” There was a beat, a pause, and then, “Where is your father? Where is Burt?”

Something was wrong. Something was very wrong. “He …” But Kurt couldn’t stop himself. He felt compelled to answer, either by fear or something else entirely. “He went home early. He had a migraine. A bad one, and I wanted him to sleep it off.”

Something in Fisher’s eyes scrunched a little. “And he left you all alone? Unprotected?”

Kurt felt his heart thump painfully in his chest. “As I’ve told you, Mr. Fischer, I’m not alone. Now, I’m going to get to your car tomorrow, but I really have to leave now. So if you could just--”

The man startled Kurt fiercely by reaching across the desk and wrestling his wrist into an iron tight grip. It was painful and Kurt shouted in surprise and agony, and then felt silent as if he couldn’t speak. As if he’d never been able to at all.

There was tingling in his wrist. It felt a little like touching a magnetic charge, the type you could experience at the local science museum. The kind that made your hair stand up. But then the feeling grew, both in intensity and magnitude, the feeling racing up Kurt’s arm, and down to his finger tips and sparking the urge to run and never stop. It made Kurt’s knees shake and his eyes water and if he could have screamed he would have.

Fischer grinned stupidly at him. “Very special, Kurt. Don’t you know? Don’t you know at all?”

The fluorescent light above Kurt broke into a shower of sparks and glass that rained down on the both of them, significantly darkening the room, save for the lights now on the wall. 

“Don’t you see?” Fischer asked, voice growing louder as he spoke. “Can’t you see at all?”

He couldn’t breathe. Kurt’s could breathe, and his vision was growing blurry. 

Who was this man? Who was Fischer and what was he doing?

Fischer promised, “I can show you. I’ll show you everything, Kurt. And all you have to do is--”

“Stop it,” Kurt gritted out. He felt his fingers curl in Fischer’s hold and it was through sheer determination that he’d managed to speak at all. 

Fischer looked delighted. “Imagine that!” He laughed and Kurt hated the sound. “You don’t know anything, and still, you’ve got some bite!”

This was it. Kurt bore down as much as he could, knees locking together, fighting against the overwhelming pressure flowing through his body. “Let,” he edged out, “me go.”

“What was that?” Fischer demanded jovially. “Speak up, Kurt.”

It happened so fast Kurt couldn’t follow. The first light had only been the beginning. But then there were others, and glass was breaking everywhere. The windows. The fish tank. The grandfather clock’s face plating. The remaining lights. Everything.

He was cut. His face and hands stung, the parts of his body exposed to the glass. Though the sensation was hardly a priority, not when Fischer released him abruptly and Kurt sank down to the floor, gasping hard for air that had been denied, and making small moans of sound simply because he finally could.

“Oh, Kurt.” He heard Fischer speaking, “You are unimaginably special.” He rounded the desk to where Kurt was collapsed on the floor, and then knelt in front of him. “And one day you’re going to know exactly why.”

“Get away from me,” Kurt panted, his body singing now with every movement, muscles contracting of their own will. “You stay away from me. You … what did you …”

“Shhh,” Fischer soothed. “I’m not here to hurt you, Kurt. I’d never hurt you. You’re far too important.”

“Then …”

In the pitch darkness of the office, with everything broken and destroyed around them, Kurt’s Knight burst in, attacking Fischer with rabid ferocity. The force that tore into Fischer made Kurt grin through his clenched teeth. “That’s my boy,” Kurt chuckled, then winced at the action.

It was impossible to say what had happened, but before long Kurt could sense he was alone. Fischer was gone. Kurt was left freezing, by himself, and more confused than he’d ever been in his life.

A wet, concerned nose pushed at Kurt’s side and the teen hefted his Knight up into his arms. “There you are,” he soothed, fingers running through short but soft hair. “There’s my boy.” Kurt manage to cross his legs in front of him as he pulled his dog fully onto his lap. “You are the best, boy. You are my Knight in shinning armor.”

The dog, Knight, a small Labrador with a dark black coat of fur, nosed his way under Kurt’s arm with a whine, tongue lapping suddenly at Kurt’s hand and wrist.

“You did … you did really good, Knight.”

The shakes in his body were starting to wear down, and the fear was beginning to creep back in. Kurt had only barely managed to pull himself to his feet when the reality of what had just occurred penetrated his mind.

He could have been killed. He could have been subjected to worse. Fischer could have done anything and everything to him, and Kurt hadn’t been able to fight back.

Why had he been frozen in place? What had that feeling been? Why had everything shattered?

Knight barked.

“He said I’m special,” Kurt repeated, still trying to catch his breath. “Special.”

It wasn’t just the office that was destroyed. By the time Kurt trusted his legs to carry him out into the main portion of the garage is was evident that whatever had caused the destruction in the office, had also take place in the garage. Several client cars were damaged, windows were damaged, canisters had exposed, and it seemed the power was out completely. Only a few of the special, red emergency lights were functioning.

“What just happened?” Kurt asked the dog, running a hand through his bangs. He had no proper explanation for anything.

It took a few moments more for Kurt to steady himself enough to search for his phone. The landlines were down, and when he did finally find the mobile, it was smashed beyond comparison. Knight whined morosely and Kurt reached down for him, feeling the weight of his own car keys in his pocket.

“Come on,” he told the Labrador, “We’re getting out of here now.” Because he was sixteen, and mature for his age, and responsible, and very likely more of an adult than most adults he knew. But something incredibly scary had just happened to him, something he couldn’t explain and barely describe, and all he wanted was his father. He needed to go home to his father who would protect him and make everything seem at least a bit less scary. 

His car’s tires were flat. All of them.

The realization had Kurt spinning around in a circle, feeling desperately uneasy, and as if he might be being watched. 

“Okay,” he breathed out, breath hitching on a little. “I can do this.” He put Knight in the car and turned on the heater, hoping to keep the dog at least somewhat warm, and then trekked back into the shop he’d just locked down, hunting for a jack and for tires that he knew would fit his car.

The whole process took far too long, and when Kurt was finally on the move, fingers clutched tight to the wheel, he could see that he was almost an hour and a half overdue. His father was likely frantic with worth. And a part of Kurt was surprised he hadn’t already decided to come down to the shop and see what the problem was. His father was notoriously overprotective.

But then Kurt thought of the man, of Fischer, and of what he’d done. And Kurt didn’t want that man anywhere near his father. Kurt could be overprotective of his father as well.

There was heavy traffic on the street, and Kurt frowned as he tried to navigate around a couple of cars that had seemingly stopped in the middle of the street. Kurt looked down at the passenger seat where Knight was wrapped in a spare coat he kept in his trunk, and sleeping soundly. “Something is going on,” he told the dog quietly.

It was another few moments before he saw the fire trucks, and the police lights, and the ambulance.

And his house, still on fire.


	2. Chapter One: Homecoming

Uncle Andy had offered to pay for an airline ticket. The man had nearly insisted, but Kurt had needed the drive. He’d needed the time and space to think. And to grieve. 

There were still some moments, hidden beneath all of the tears and anger, that Kurt could will himself to believe that nothing had happened. He hadn’t been caught late at the shop, he hadn’t been attacked, and his father hadn’t slipped and hit his head after a horrifically accidental gas leak sparked fire in their house. Those moments, the ones that were slipping through his fingers more and more easily, were his grieving process. And even as they went with time and the more distance he put between himself and his old life, they were integral to his sanity.

But eventually he found his way into Washington, a place that seemed so foreign and so impossibly different after Ohio. It was early January, and for Ohio that meant frigid temperatures and unpredictable snowstorms. Washington was … surreal. There was no snow, and there wasn’t sun either. The weather was overcast, dreary even, and the fog rolled around his car like it belonged there. He crept along the coast as he followed the GPS to his Uncle’s house, and he couldn’t help feeling miserable and filled with self pity. 

It took a bit of navigating, backtracking and asking for directions twice, before he finally found the Victorian modeled house his Uncle Andy owned. He sat in the car for a moment after he parked, staring at it, appreciating its beauty but also trying to imagine it as the home in which his father had grown up. It was hard to picture.

“Kurt!”

His Uncle Andy was his father’s younger brother by nearly ten years, youthful in appearance and still considerably handsome. He waved a fiercely welcoming hand at Kurt and descended the narrow pathway from the house to the street with practiced ease.

Kurt slipped from the car, Knight barking happily, and called out, “Uncle Andy!”

Being hugged by his uncle felt strangely similar to his father’s hold, and if he closed his eyes, it was nearly impossible to tell the difference between them.

“Did you have a hard time finding me?” his uncle asked with a concerned frown. “I know the streets are a little twisted, but that’s because we’re built right into the coastline. You’ll get everything sorted out after a while. Was the drive long?” He hooked an arm around Kurt’s shoulders fondly. “What am I saying? Of course the drive was long. You must be tired.”

Knight barked again and Kurt slipped out from under the familial arm. “I’ve just got a bag. And Knight.”

His uncle insisted on carrying Kurt’s things for him, the aforementioned bag and the dog’s case. He then led Kurt up to the house and said, “I’m really happy you’re here, Kurt.”

Kurt looked up at the house, at the cherry red trim and the high windows and the welcoming atmosphere it provided. He mumbled, “I didn’t really have anywhere else to go.” Then he cleared is throat and followed the man through the front door. 

“I know, I know,” his uncle said, talking a little too fast, “everything in here is completely antiquated, but my mom was always very particular about the way that things were supposed to go and I guess I’ve just kept it that way, even after her death, out of habit.”

“No,” Kurt shook his head slowly, “it’s beautiful in here.”

There was a wrapping staircase right near the front door and his uncle started up it with a bit of preamble, stating, “It was better when my mom was alive. She kept a garden in the back. Grew fresh herbs all year long that smelt up the house--in the very best way, of course. And she loved flowers, so naturally your dad, and me and our sister always smelled like lilies and violets and well, I guess our girlfriends liked it, so there’s that. Can’t say the same for your Aunt Mildred’s boyfriend.”

The best part, the absolute best part of being with his Uncle Andy, were the pictures lining the walls. All the way up the stair case and down the long hallway upstairs, there were pictures of his father, and his family. Pictures that Kurt had never seen before, or could have possibly imagined. Moments of happiness captured at birthday parties and anniversaries and camping trips. Photographs of his young, toothless father, and the grandmother Kurt had never met. Memories that his father hadn’t been able to share with him.

“I’m going to put you in your dad’s old room, okay?” Uncle Andy stopped them in front of the second door down the hall. “I think it’s still a little cluttered up with his old things, but for the most part, it’s all ready to go. Just move what’s in the way to the side and I’ll bring a box in later for it.”

As soon as the door was open Kurt knelt down to let Knight to the floor. The dog shot forward, nearly prancing into the room that reeked odorless of his father in a way that felt crazy to even Kurt.

“This was my father’s room?”

His uncle pushed open the curtains to the nearest window and made a conforming sound. “From the day he was born until the day he moved out to be with your mother.”

Kurt swallowed hard at her mention.

“So like I said,” his uncle reminded, “it’s a little cluttered up with Burt’s things, but just push it out of the way.” The man paused with an unreadable look. “I really am glad to have you here, Kurt. I’m terribly sorry for your loss, but you’re going to be okay here. You were meant to be here.”

“Meant to be?”

His uncle shook his head suddenly, blinking rapidly. “I just meant this is where your father was raised. This family has a lot of history here. Roots. You’re going to be able to find a place here. I promise you.”

Kurt was left alone after that to look around the room which seemed perfectly ordinary. Aside from the crackle of energy that seemed to be in the air. There was a large sized bed with full linens, a dresser opposite it, a sitting chair, a desk with swiveling chair, a bookcase filled with trinkets and a table by the window covered in things Kurt believed to be his father’s possessions. 

“Well,” Kurt sighed at Knight. “Welcome home.”

The dark barked, up on his hind legs. 

His uncle had placed his single bag on the bed and Kurt wandered to it. He didn’t have much. Almost everything he’d had had been lost in the fire. But he did have things he’d managed to salvage from his friends. A jacket he’d left in the back of Artie’s mom’s van. The shoes he’d kept in his gym locker. The jeans Sugar had been having dry cleaned for him after spilling paint on him after he’d helped her parents paint their garage. And then the most important thing he owned now.

Knight whined. 

Kurt shot him a dirty look. “You don’t hear me complaining,” Kurt huffed at him, fingers curling around the edge of a framed photograph of himself and his father. It was a picture snapped of them celebrating the shop’s ten anniversary of being open. Brittany had taken it, and she’d framed it for him only a few weeks ago for his father’s upcoming birthday.

It was not lost on Kurt that it would be his father’s birthday in only a few shorts days now.

Again, Knight whined, then his tail thumped on the floor. “Enough,” Kurt told him softly, placing the picture on the bedside table. “We need to be thankful.” He patted the bed and the dog jumped up on it almost right away. “I know it’s not Ohio, but it’s better than having nothing.”

That would be his mantra. As he sat himself on the edge of his bed he took a deep breath and could only remind himself that he was lucky to have his Uncle Andy. 

“Dinner is in an hour!” his uncle’s voice carried up the stairs.

“Okay!” Kurt called back. He ran a hand over his face and felt Knight nuzzle his thigh. He brought his free hand to rub through the dog’s hair in response. 

Like his father, his Uncle Andy was no cook, but the meal was good enough. It was the awkward conversation that came after that was the worst. Kurt had only met his Uncle Andy once before, when the man had come to visit them in Ohio almost a decade before. And Kurt was quickly realizing he didn’t actually know anything about the man. They had nothing in common, either. His Uncle Andy was certainly nice enough, welcoming and so kind, but he was a stranger. 

“I know it’s different from Ohio,” his uncle said jokingly as the meal was nearly finished. “But it’s nice here. You’ll come to love it. Everyone does.”

Kurt gave him a tentative smile. “I am excited to see the ocean. We didn’t have one of those in Ohio.”

“Have you ever seen it before?” his uncle asked excitedly.

Kurt had to shake his head, then clarify. “I saw it on the drive in, but never up close. I was thinking I’d do that tomorrow. Since it’s the weekend.”

His uncle pointed out, “The ocean is the real power around here.” When Kurt made a confused face, he explained, “This is predominantly a fishing town. Or economy is dependent on the ocean. A lot of the men, and some of the women, go out to sea for a good portion of the year. And the rest of us, we’re just as much a part of it too. You’ll find there’s a pretty big running ocean theme here. Everyone is just a little obsessed.”

Kurt paused, then he asked, “Uncle Andy? Can I ask you a question about my father?”

His uncle seemed a little startled, then he nodded. “Of course.”

With a bit of a squint, Kurt looked around the dinning room, then asked, “Was my father happy here? Did he had a happy childhood? It’s beautiful here, and peaceful, and I was jut wondering. He didn’t like to talk about Washington at all. He didn’t want to talk about anything from his past. I’m curious.”

His uncle leaned an elbow on the table and with complete honesty he promised Kurt, “Your father was very happy here when he was young. We all were. I mean, we were terrible brats to our parents always getting into trouble, but it was the best kind. The kind that little boys are supposed to. We grew up happy, to answer your question. All of us, your Aunt Mildred included.”

“Then why did he leave and refuse to come back? Why was this place such a terrible thing for him to talk about? Why did run and never look back?”

“Is that what you think he did?” his uncle asked carefully. “Run?”

Kurt held his gaze. “Yes. And he was always looking over his shoulder. Like he was afraid something was following us. Something scared him away from this place, the place that you tell me he was so happy at as a child.”

For the longest moment Kurt thought his uncle wasn’t going to say anything. He had the same kind of look on his face that Kurt’s father used to get and it was horribly frustrating. 

Then his uncle said, “Never let anyone tell you that your father did not love this town or growing up here. He was healthy and happy. But Kurt, you’re old enough to understand this now. When you’re older, a teenager on the verge of becoming an adult, things become much more difficult. The choices are harder and the consequences of your actions are more staggering.”

Kurt asked bluntly, “Did something happen?” He could barely manage the words, “Was it my mother’s death?”

He knew so little about her. His father absolutely never spoke about her, and after a while, Kurt had stopped asking. All he knew was that she’d had an accident when he was still a baby, only a year old, and it had hurt his father so terribly he’d never moved on. 

“Your father loved your mother very much.”

“I know that,” Kurt assured him. 

His uncle startled him and added reflectively, “I think she just scared him so much.”

Kurt nearly stuttered, “Scared?”

The contemplative look on his uncle’s face faded away. “Never mind that. All you need to know is that your parents loved each other. And my brother was always more secretive than he needed to be. If he left because he needed to, he certainly didn’t feel the need to let me know that. I woke up one morning to our mother’s hysterical phone call. He went in the night, took you with him, and didn’t let anyone know the two of you were okay until a couple of years later. Our mother never forgave him for that.” His uncle stood and gathered up his plate. “But the past is the past, Kurt. And some things are meant to stay there.”

Next to him Knight chewed on his bone diligently and Kurt crossed his arms against his chest in thought.

Staying in his father’s old room helped. There were trophies for baseball on the shelves, and trinkets that felt completely like the only person Kurt had ever truly loved. Even the wall paper, blended shades and textures of blue seemed to reek of his father. Of his father’s energy. Or presence. Kurt wasn’t sure to call it. But he could feel his father around him. Surrounding him. Permeating him. And it was a wonderful feeling.

Back in Ohio he’d had a very thorough and very lengthy night time regiment filled with moisturizers and creams in his desperate attempt to save his skin from the horrors of being a teenager. Here in Washington he didn’t have anything. But old habits were hard to break, so he washed his face thoroughly with his uncle’s generic wash and did his best to try all of the tricks he’d picked up about steam and heat and keeping his pores open.

Then, after there was nothing more to do, Kurt slipped into his night clothes and wandered from the bathroom. He’d have to go into town the next day and pick up what he could. The town was small, however, and that meant he might need to order online.

He was just too tired after his drive and the dinner and the new environment to give it much thought. All he wanted to do was get into bed and get a solid eight hours of sleep on a bed that wasn’t motel used. Even Knight was curled up at the foot of the bed with his eyes closed.

It was the feeling of being watched that caught Kurt as he crossed the room. He paused halfway to the middle and in front of a window that was cracked open to keep the room from getting too stuffy.

There was a boy watching him from the adjacent window. And he was handsome, shirtless and leering.

Kurt rolled his eyes and moved to stand in front of the window. He shut it firmly, blocking out the whistle of wind. It figured that he’d be level with another bedroom, and of course it was that of a teenage boy.

The voyeur gave Kurt an eyebrow wiggle.

“Honestly,” Kurt sighed. He pulled the curtain closed and shrugged off his outer robe, draping it over the edge of his bed. He’d only just pulled back to the blankets when the sound of plastic scraping caused him to look back to the window, and the now open curtains.

Kurt stalked back over to find the same teenage boy leaning casually against the window, still watching him. “Go away,” Kurt mumbled at him, then pulled the curtains again, fighting down the feeling of panic. He nearly ran the distance from the window to his bed before sliding in.

Like always, there were no nightmares. That fact always made Kurt feel a little guilty.

In the morning his uncle knocked on his door before peeking his head in and telling him, “I’m heading down to the hospital now for my shift. I’m not much of a breakfast person but you should be able to find something.”

Sleep addled, Kurt frowned and sat up slowly. “The hospital?” It took a moment, then he blinked and said, “Oh, you’re a nurse. I forgot.” His father had only mentioned it once.

His uncle grinned far too wide for the morning hour. “Right you are. I usually work the morning shift, so it’ll be up to you to get to school on time by yourself. I know I can trust you. And before I forget, I left all of my contact numbers downstairs for you. My phone and the hospital number and a few people you can call if you can’t ever get in touch with me.”

Kurt pushed back the blankets and wondered, “Is there a reason that might happen?”

“No, no,” his uncle brushed of. “Of course not. But it never hurts to be prepared.” His uncle ducked out for a moment before coming back with a flush and saying, “You wanted to go to the beach toward, right? Well, it’s not so much a beach, but a meeting of the rocks and water, so you be careful. People have died before out there from falling in. But you can take this road all the way down towards the waterline. It’ll curve a little and you’ll come up on the Smythe café. It’s the local hang out spot for the teens and it’s got a harbor attached. That’s the safest and best place to see the water.”

“Okay,” Kurt’s voice rumbled deep with sleep. “Thanks.”

“Have fun!”

It took Kurt a trip to the bathroom and back to realize his curtains were open again.

Apparently his Uncle Andy’s idea of a suitable breakfast was a box of stale bread, milk that smell dangerous and the kind of cereal that people with no teeth chewed on. He passed on all of it and decided to head down to see the water and maybe pick something up at the café his uncle had talked about.

“You coming with me?” Kurt asked Knight who had trailed after him down stairs. “Or do you just want to play inside today?” The dog gave him a blank look. “Right.”

Forty-five minutes later Kurt was back in the car that had served him well getting out to Washington. Knight lifted himself up on the door panel so he could see properly out of the window. Kurt buckled himself in and laughed at the dog and the wagging tail. 

There probably wasn’t much, if anything to do in town. Kurt made that deduction by the amount of furious activity going on at the Smythe café on a Sunday morning. He was lucky enough to snag a far parking space but there were people everywhere, milling around in both large and small groups, and all of them teenagers. It did seem to be the town’s hot spot.

But even more exciting than the café was the water. Kurt had never been driven to see the ocean before, but it was incredibly beautiful and captivating. He’d really expected it to be a lighter blue than it was, but there was something hauntingly compelling about the waves that lapped at both the loading ramp and the docked boats at the nearby harbor. Kurt wandered his way down the ramp in awe. 

It was absolutely too cold to go into the water but Kurt could imagine when it was hotter. There’d be kids in the water, boating and water skiing and doing all the kinds of water sports that hadn’t been available in Ohio. And swimming, of course. His Uncle Andy hadn’t been kidding when he’d said there wasn’t really much of a beach, but Kurt could see a netted off area that would certainly be acceptable for swimming. So summer was looking better and better.

“Out of the way!”

Kurt jumped back as a boat came sliding down the ramp on a trailer. It was a controlled decent but suddenly there was a person near him, arms pulling Kurt back and out of the way. The boat splashed into the water a moment later and the truck that had been towing it braked to a stop. 

“You okay?”

Kurt looked to the curly hair teen who’d pulled him to safety. “Who are you?”

“I’m Jesse,” the boy beamed, “and I’m sorry that you almost got ran over there. Are you okay?”

Kurt nodded wordlessly.

A moment later the truck door flew open and another sandy haired teen hopped down, demanding, “Are you okay? I didn’t even see you there!”

“My mistake,” Kurt said, feeling only a little shaken now. “I shouldn’t have been standing in front of the loading zone anyway.”

“I swear I checked,” the boy from the truck insisted. “I just didn’t see you there. God. My folks would kill me if I ran someone over. They’d never le me have the boat again. I’m really sorry.!” The teen accused at the boy who’d introduced himself as Jesse, “you were supposed to be spotting me.”

Jesse looked completely sincere as he said, “Dave, I didn’t see him. I think Kurt here has a calling as a chameleon.”

Surprised, Kurt wondered, “How do you know my name?”

Another door to the truck popped open and a girl rounded to them, asking, “What’s the hold up? Because this woman had a date with a sail boat and you two losers promised me you’d help me train for my maritime license.”

“I nearly hit someone, Santana,” the taller teen, Dave, said. “So how about you prioritize.”

The girl rolled her eyes. “He’s still breathing. Crisis over.” She sauntered down to the boat and scaled it easily as it rested in the water. 

He’d been distracted for a moment, but now Kurt asked again, “How do you know my name?”

A bit shameful, Jesse admitted, “My mom is the principal of the high school. I saw your fax come through yesterday. I recognized you from the picture that came with it from your old school ID. You’re going to start on Monday, aren’t you?”

“Dave!” Santana snapped.

Dave gave Jesse a scathing look and said, “We can drown her at sea, right? No one is going to find the body.” But then he headed towards her to take care of the rigging. 

“Your mom is the principal?” Kurt asked. 

“I’m class president,” Jesse said, rubbing a hand through the back of his hair. “So I kind of get access to her office even without the perk of being her son. I mean, we were going to meet on Monday anyway when I showed you around, so this isn’t a complete waste.”

The way Jesse looked at him unnerved him. There was something calculating and certain in his eyes, and Kurt had never seen it before in an adult, let alone a teen. Jesse seemed older than he appeared. Wiser. Different. Kurt couldn’t say for sure in any case. 

He found himself saying, “I guess not.”

Because there was something about Jesse that made Kurt want to trust him. Believe in him. Take him at face value.

Jesse held out a hand. “So I guess I’m the welcoming committee. Welcome to Washington. I’m Jesse St. James and if you need anything, I’m the guy you talk to.”

Kurt met his hand and gripped it tightly, his stomach flopping happily. “Kurt Hummel. And thanks.”

“No problem. And I do mean that. I’m here. For you. I mean, I’ve been waiting for you.”

“Waiting?” Kurt asked. “For me?”

Jesse replied smoothly, “To meet you. Since I saw the fax.”

“Are you going to help me get the boat settled Jesse or at you just going to flirt badly?” Dave called over. 

Jesse blushed and said, “Like I said, welcome to town. You’re going to fit in very well here. Oh, and if you’re looking for a job, Mrs. Smythe is looking to hire a new barista.”

Kurt’s head tilted. “Excuse me?”

“Not much to do here,” Jesse laughed. “Most of us get after school jobs. I figured you might be interested. If that’s the case, Mrs. Smythe, she owns the café behind you, is overworked and understaffed. Let her know you’re interested. I think you’re interested.”

In an odd echoed, Kurt agreed, “I am interested.”

“Good.” Jesse rocked back on his heels. “I’m going to go help my friends now, but I’ll see you at school on Monday. See you around.”

Kurt offered him an awkward, one handed wave.

He didn’t go directly to the café. Instead he was certain he owed Knight a very long walk. With the way Knight soaked up the attention he got from the surrounding teens, notably the girls, Kurt wasn’t sure if his dog wasn’t the biggest attention whore he’d ever met.

When that was done and Knight was properly exercised and napping back in the car, Kurt wandered up the café. And Jesse hadn’t been kidding when he’d said that the café was severely understaffed. Kurt could see only a couple of teens working behind the counter while the line of customers was nearly to the door. Neither was there a place to sit anywhere.

The first thing to do was to get a coffee and make sure it was decent enough to sell it. The menu was extensive and Kurt was happy enough to get a simple latte by the time it was his turn to order.

“Well, hello there, gorgeous.”

Kurt blinked oddly at the barista, wondering if he’d misheard him. “Excuse me?”

“Don’t play coy, doll. You must be new. There is absolutely no way I could have missed you before now. Not in those pants.”

Kurt squared his shoulders at the tall, thin and very attractive teen in front of him. “I don’t believe that your tone or words are at all proper for--”

“Listen up, sexy,” the barista interrupted. “I just took an order from a girl who just loaded up about a thousand calories into a drink that I can most certainly assure you is only going to add to her self esteem issues, and I’m probably going to continue to be assaulted by an utterly countless number of boring individuals that will either make me want to kill myself from the sheer boredom or start randomly massacring them. So forgive me if I’m enjoying the scenery which just suddenly improved a thousand fold. So order your coffee and let me enjoy myself, and leave your number on a napkin. My name is Sebastian by the way, but you can call--”

“You’re disgusting,” Kurt remarked.

“Only human, Hummel.”

Kurt’s eyes widened. “Why does everyone know my name?”

At that, Sebastian looked a little unsure. “Who else have you met today?”

The people behind Kurt were getting restless so he said, “I’m going to have a non-fat vanilla latte, hold the highly inappropriate sexual comments and please could you tell me if Mrs. Smythe is in.”

Sebastian scribbled Kurt’s order down on his cup and passed it off. “Give me your number and I’ll think about it.”

Kurt slipped his wallet out of his pocket. “Let me know if she’s in and I won’t think about reporting you for sexual harassment. “

“Feisty.” Sebastian’s smile was full of too many teeth. He held out Kurt’s receipt. “You’re turning me on in all kinds of ways, baby.”

Kurt snatched at the receipt and in in the blink of an eye his fingers brushed Sebastian’s. The mirrored sign behind Sebastian shattered as Kurt shouted, feeling as if he’d been shocked by the contact. He drew back instinctively and would have laughed if he hadn’t been so utterly freaked. Sebastian seemed more startled than Kurt, and in a move of complete lack of coordination, he twisted to the side to get away from Kurt, sideswiping a glass jar of biscotti and sending it to the ground in a million pieces. Sebastian sprawled out on the floor as outside car alarms sounded and inside the cash register popped open in a flurry of beeps. 

Very slowly Kurt peeked over the top of the counter to where Sebastian was laid out on the ground, eyes wide and petrified. The teen met his gaze almost right away as he breathed heavily and tried to pick himself up.

“I …” Kurt tried. “I’m sorry.”

“Kurt Hummel,” Sebastian whispered, and it sounded deliciously right.

“Everyone okay?” A barista asked, voice firm as she tried to defuse the situation. She helped Sebastian up to his feet. “What happened?”

Holding his breath Kurt fled to the corner of the coffee shop where someone had deserted their table to check on what had happened. He ducked his head down low and tried to become unnoticeable as possible. He just wanted to die from the panic. It was just like with the man who’d grabbed him in his father’s shop. It was the same … but not exactly. It had felt just as intense, but Kurt hadn’t been afraid. Not really. Not like he thought he might be hurt. Not like with the stranger. Better. Safe. 

“I would know Burt Hummel’s son anywhere.”

When Kurt looked up there was a beautiful older woman sliding into the chair across from him. “You knew my father?”

She was probably around his father’s age, but she’d aged masterfully, with near perfect skin and dark brown hair that still looked lustrous and silken. She was elegant, in a word, but there was a hint of dullness in her eyes that ate at Kurt’s soul.

“I knew him,” she confirmed. “Went to school with him. Loved him.”

“You loved my father.”

“Very much.” She looked so sad. “With all of my heart.”

“But my mother--”

She looked at him gently. “He loved her. But that’s the problem with falling in love, Kurt. You can only feel your own feelings, and you can’t take into account anyone else’s.” She sighed so wistfully. “We were meant to be together, you know. It was aligned in the stars. Fated. We were fated to be together. And if I’ve learned anything in all of my years, it’s that fate is not to be tempered with.”

“Fate.” Kurt mulled over the words. In some ways, it was refreshing and utter brilliant to hear someone speak to about his father. His Uncle Andy was still hurting and suspiciously tightlipped. But this woman, whoever she was, had known his father. Maybe she knew the things about his father’s past that his father had never been able to tell him. “What do you mean?”

She looked down at her folded hands on the table. “Burt and I were fated to be together,” she repeated. “Just like you and Sebastian.”

“Mother.”

Kurt froze.

She looked up at Sebastian who was suddenly standing next to their table. She told him, “Oh, don’t worry dear. I was just talking to Burt Hummel’s boy. Telling him--”

“Mother,” Sebastian repeated, steely but not without kindness. “I think it’s time for you to rest.”

Kurt noticed that Sebastian was careful to avoid eye contact as he escorted his mother up and out of her chair, then across the café to a room marked for employees only.

He wondered what she’d meant by fated. About her and his father. About himself and Sebastian. It made no sense, and he couldn’t decide if she’d just been rambling about something unimportant or if there was some kind of truth hidden in her words. Like the kind that might have driven his father from Washington and across the country.

Kurt jumped a little when a steaming cup of coffee was placed in front of him. Upon further examination Kurt realized it was his order, a non-fat vanilla latte. And it was Sebastian who’d put it down in front of him. 

Face impassible, Sebastian said, “Sorry about her. She’s …” he blew out a sharp breath. “She’s an addict. It started prescription, and now it’s just … it’s worse. But I’m sorry for whatever she said to you. I try to keep her contained and managed, but sometimes she slips away from me.”

Kurt regarded him for a moment, then said, “You’re a good son.”

“No,” Sebastian said haughtily. “Hardly.”

Kurt let his fingers curl around the warm cup as he hedged, “She was talking about my father.”

Sebastian finally sat across from him, in the same seat his mother had occupied. “She would. Don’t feel special, baby cakes. She’ll talk about him to anyone who’s stupid enough to sit there and listen. They were … high school sweethearts for a while, and then your dad moved on. She didn’t. She’s got it in her head that they were supposed to be together and I guess with all the junk in her system, she really believes it now.”

“Fated,” Kurt repeated. “She said that she and my father were fated to be together.”

“In the stars, right?” Sebastian waved a cynical hand at him. “It’s just this old thing that’s supposed to link her bloodline with your father’s. It goes back pretty far and it’s nice to believe in when you’re a lonely old lady, but it’s not real, Kurt.”

With a slow nod, Kurt added, “She said the same about us.”

Sebastian froze and Kurt knew, he absolutely knew that Sebastian had heard his mother say it before. About them. About the two of them, and not their parents.

Sebastian snapped, “She’s high out of her mind on Adderall and Oxy.” He narrowed his gaze at Kurt. “Why did you even want to see her in the first place?”

Kurt sipped his coffee. It was good. Very good. “I’m looking for a job. My Uncle Andy is being completely amazing, but I need to be able to rely on myself for some things. I need my own money, and I was told that you might have an opening.”

Sebastian leaned back in his seat and looked much happier. “You want to work here, princess?”

“Not if it’s going to involve continual sexual harassment.”

“It’s harassment because I see what I like and I’m interested?”

Kurt hissed at him, “Look around. It’s like we’re in Beverly Hills. There is an abnormally high amount of beautiful people in this tiny little town. I can’t imagine why you’d be interested in me, unless, of course, you’ve already worked your way through all of them. And if that’s the case, I’m really not interested in experiencing for myself that itchy, burning sensation that I’m sure you’re dealing with right now in your groin area.”

“You’re such a prissy bitch,” Sebastian laughed.

“Is anywhere else in town hiring? I’m a certified mechanic. My father used to own a shop before he … I can do that. But I’m willing to try the library, the grocery store or anywhere else.”

Still grinning, Sebastian denied, “You won’t find much, if anything. All the good jobs are taken. This is pretty much all that’s left.”

“And why is that?” Kurt wondered.

Sebastian might have snorted. “Not everyone is suited for dealing with pretentious, self absorbed teens who want to buy their ten dollar cups of coffee with their parent’s credit cards. With a smile on their face. Working here is about endurance and stamina, not coffee.”

He thought about all the new clothes he’d need, and his skin care products and anything personal he might want to buy. No matter who annoying Sebastian seemed, or his comments, if there wasn’t any other choice, then he’d have to take it. He had to have the money. He couldn’t freeload forever. Plus, the cross country trip had put his car in a serous need for a tune-up. And then there were Knight’s inevitable vet bills. 

Gritting his teeth, Kurt asked, “Would you like to see my resume?” 

Sebastian arched an eyebrow. “For a barista position?” He made a face. “Unlikely. Plus, you’ve got the job.”

“I’ve got the job,” Kurt deadpanned. 

Kurt would have done anything to lose the cocky look on Sebastian’s face. “Yeah. I’m the mood for something nice to look at for a couple of hours after school every day. And it’ll make carpooling much easier when you eventually give into me and let me have your number.”

“I’ll still have to fill out an application,” Kurt said dully, “and my number will be on it.”

Sebastian gave a hum. “Maybe I just want you to give it to me.”

Kurt stood. “Is there a uniform? Something I should wear? I noticed all the baristas are wearing black.”

“Anything that makes your ass look that amazing.”

Kurt slung his bag over his shoulder. “You’re a pig.”

“You just called your new boss a pig.”

Without anymore conversation Kurt snagged a waiting application from a station by the door and headed out into the parking lot. He folded the paper and slid it in his bag.

“Kurt Hummel?”

There were two people blocking his way, a boy and a girl, both teens and short. “Look,” he told them sharply, “I’m really very done with people knowing exactly who I am and confronting me today.”

“Wait!” the girl called out as Kurt stepped around them. “My name is Rachel Berry and we know who you are!” The boy shushed her.

Kurt stopped and looked over his shoulder. “I hope so. You just used my name.”

“No,” the boy corrected, “we know what you are. We’re the same. And we’ve been waiting a very long time for you.”

“All I am is irritated.” Kurt started off again, keys in his hand now.

“Come back!” the girl cried out. “We need you!”

“Rachel!” the boy hissed. “you’re making a scene.”

Kurt slammed the door to his car as he got in, causing Knight to bark at him. “Quiet you,” he said. “I’ve just had a very bad morning. The last thing I need is your barking.”

Knight whined and settled down on the seat.

“We’re going home,” Kurt decided, then corrected, “to Uncle Andy’s.” He started the car and drove along the parking lot. It wasn’t until his foot moved to the brake that his stomach dropped out from under him. 

“What the hell,” he demanded, foot pushing down hard on the pedal. Knight made an even more pathetic sound as Kurt tried the emergency brake to no avail. “This is bad.” He watched the speedometer rise as he tried to navigate the parking lot at too quick a speed. 

He nearly hit a poor girl as he reached the end of the space before there was suddenly a car in front of him breaking hard. Instinct took over and he jerked the wheel away from the car and from the people he might hurt. The action, however, took him straight down the boat loading dock and with the increased speed he plowed painfully hard into the water. And the car kept going. 

His airbags deployed right away, and though they saved him from injury, they also disoriented him. He wasn’t sure what was going on right way, only that his neck hurt, Knight was barking and his feet were suddenly freezing. There was water in the car.

“Help!” Kurt called out, watching the car sink down even further into the murky water. There was too much water pressure on the door for him to force it open and he was completely stuck. “Help me! Someone!” Kurt screamed as loud as he could, feeling the water up to his thighs in the car as the last of the light blotted out and the car when fully under the water.

“It’s okay,” his gasped for air, trying to get his seatbelt off. “It’s okay. We’re going to be okay. Knight. Stop barking. Knight!” He managed to get free of the belt and knelt up on his seat. “Shut up!” He reached for the dog and piled into the back seat. There was an emergency trunk release in the back of the SUV. If he could get there before they sank too much it would likely open. The car was sinking front first and that was his saving grace.

“Okay, okay,” he continued to repeat to himself as he climbed over the second row of seats. “I can do this. I’m going to do this.” It felt like the air was thin in the car. 

Something thumped heavily on the side of the car as Kurt tumbled into the rear truck space. He tried tearing up at the upholstery, trying to find where the latch was hidden.

Knight barked again, rapid and dangerous and Kurt began to panic. He couldn’t find it. He couldn’t even get the flooring up, and the water was in the back with them now.

“Oh, god,” Kurt breathed out, gasping loudly as he pushed himself up into the last air pocket left in the car. He was going to die. He was going to die just like his father had and that would be the end of it. Maybe … it wouldn’t be so bad. Kurt lifted Knight up to share his air. He’d never been a believer, not in heaven or hell or god or the devil. But if there was even a chance he could ever be reunited with his father in an afterlife, Kurt prayed for it. He prayed desperately as he gasped at his last few mouthfuls of air.

Something cracked loudly, loud enough to be heard all the way where Kurt was and then a hand was wrapped around Kurt’s foot, pulling him with impressive strength.

Kurt knew it was Sebastian before he could see him, free from the car, choking on the water in his mouth and breathing as deep as he could. He could feel it was Sebastian, that same intensity of electricity between them that happened when they touched. That feeling of rightness. 

“You’re okay,” Sebastian promised, lifting him up out of the water and getting him farther up the launch area to dry land. “I’ve got you. You’re fine. Just breathe.”

“Knight! My dog.”

“Got him too,” Sebastian said, and he made Kurt look then, over to a beautiful blond girl standing to the side, who indeed did have his tired, wet, scared dog. “But how about we concentrate on you?”

He could feel it even now, the power between them, whatever the energy was, as Sebastian touched him on the wrist, and then again on the back of his neck, asking once more if he was more severely hurt.

“You saved me,” Kurt finally managed after what felt like a million mouthfuls of air.

Sebastian looked behind them, sending the most chilling, horrible look to the two teens that had confronted Kurt just before his car accident. “I saw your car go in. And when you didn’t get out right away, I knew you couldn’t. I just thought … I just acted.”

“You saved me,” Kurt insisted firmly, not willing to budge. “You saved my life.” And he’d thought, only moments earlier, that Sebastian was a crude, spineless, selfish human being. 

“Are you okay, Kurt? What happened?”

At the sound of Jesse’s voice, Kurt turned towards him. He was shivering as he nodded, and as they waited for the paramedics, a nearby man lent Kurt his jacket against the chill. He hadn’t felt like he needed it, though. Not with Sebastian still pressed against him. Not with the charge against their joined skin that was starting to feel familiar. 

Kurt asked Jesse, “I thought you were going boating?”

Jesse’s hands went into his pockets. “I decided to hang back at the last second. There’s an ambulance on its way. You’re going to be okay.”

Kurt felt Sebastian squeeze his hand, and when he turned the teen was giving him a look of tenderness. Kurt squeezed back and said, “I know I am.”

It was all inconvenient after that. Sebastian stayed with him until the ambulance arrived, and then helped him onto the stretcher. 

“Thank you,” Kurt whispered at him, holding Knight tightly to his chest.

Sebastian only gave him a solemn, silent nod, then darted off. 

His Uncle Andy met him when he arrived at the hospital, and half an hour later he had instructions to rest and keep an eye out for any signs he’d caught a bug from either the water or the chill. He got to go home shortly after that.

“So,” his uncle said after helping him up the stairs and into bed. “Exciting first day in town.”

They’d given him a relaxing aid at the hospital and Kurt felt a little loopy as he leaned back and let the man tuck him in. Like his father used to. “I got a job.”

His uncle seemed pleasantly surprised. “I didn’t know you were looking.”

“Want to pay my way,” Kurt said, turning to his side. 

“Kurt.” His uncle rested a warm hand on his back. “You’re family. Family doesn’t pay their way. That’s why they’re family.” When Kurt was silent his uncle eventually gave him a good night parting and left the room. 

Asleep, Knight snuffled a little in his sleep and Kurt wound a little closer to him. 

Sebastian had saved him. After making harassing comments and trying to come off as an ass, he’d risked his life to save Kurt and even Knight. And by eyewitness account he’d done it without hesitation.

Then there was the way that it felt when they touched. Like electricity and a steady hum of power. Kurt had felt such a thing before, with his attacker, but to the degree that he did with Sebastian. The feeling with Sebastian, he almost craved it now, missed it being gone. And he couldn’t even explain what it was in the first place. 

Everything was just so confusing. 

“Well,” he remarked out loud. “Weird first day.” A moment later great sadness and childishness burst to the forefront of his mind. He pressed his hand against his mouth to hide the sound of his sobs, and then cried himself to sleep.


	3. Mothers and Fathers

Despite the accident and the medication he’d taken the night previous, Washington was in a much later time zone than he was used to, and it made getting up for his first day of school just a little bit easier. That was, of course, after he laid in bed for a bit, trying to remember the car accident, and unable to forget the way Sebastian had felt, pulling him to safety through a …

Kurt hadn’t been able to get the doors open. There had been too much water pressure from the SUV sinking too fast. And if that was the case, how had Sebastian managed it? The thought baffled him. The window certainly hadn’t been smashed out, Kurt had passed through an open door. But there didn’t seem to be a reasonable explanation for how that door had been opened. Not while there was a pocket of air still in the car and too much competing pressure. 

“Kurt?” A gentle knock to the door came with his uncle’s tentative voice. “Are you awake in there?”

By that time Kurt was across the room to the closet where his measly wardrobe hung. There really wasn’t much to choose from and the thought was growing more disparaging with every passing second. “Come in!” he called, pulling a collared, fitted shirt down from a hanger. He supposed it would have to do, simple but classic.

“How are you feeling this morning?” his uncle asked, nursing a cup of coffee in his hand. “You don’t have to go in today if you aren’t feeling up to it. What happened yesterday--”

“--was a fluke accident,” Kurt finished for him. “I think something happened to my brake line, and I went into the water trying to avoid hitting anyone.”

“You could have drowned.” His uncle stepped fully into the room, Knight hopping down off the bed to rush over to him. “I could have lost you. Your father would never forgive me if I let anything happen to you.” The man’s eyes looked down to the excited dog and Kurt wanted to remind him that his father was long dead and gone now.

Selecting a pair of dark jeans, Kurt said, “I didn’t drown. Sebastian saved me. I still haven’t figured out the how yet, but he was there.” But Kurt was certainly going to figure out the how, before it ate away at him.

“Smythe,” his uncle said, almost too quietly to be heard.

“You know him?” Kurt headed back towards his bed, only stopping to peer through the open curtains on his window and into the bedroom across from him that appeared to be empty.

His Uncle Andy gave him a fond nod. “The Smythe family has been around these parts for just as long as the Hummels, and that’s a very long time. Hundreds of years. Your dad was very close with Evangeline Smythe. They dated freshman year in high school, and parts of sophomore. Everyone thought they were going to get married. Before your father fell in love with your mother, of course.”

Kurt pursed his lips. “I talked to her yesterday, while I was looking for a job. She told me that much. She said … well, I certainly got the feeling she’s still in love with dad. Even now.” Regardless of the death aspect, of course.

“Would be. She was always going on about how they were supposed to …” his uncle stopped suddenly, as if he realized something. Then he cleared his throat and said, “The Hummel family has always been entwined with the Smythes. We go hand in hand, you could say. And the Berrys, the Puckermans, the Andersons, and well, you get the idea. There are a lot of old bloodlines here, and some of them have very powerful ties to each other.”

Kurt looked at him strangely. “Powerful?”

His uncle laughed. “Old alliances mostly. A name carries a lot of weight here, and the more friendly families help each other in a myriad of different ways. It’s probably what got you your job. Your last name. Being Burt’s son.”

“No, I’m pretty sure I got the job because Sebastian wants to look at me in a decidedly sexual way all day after school.”

His uncle only shook his head and took a long drink of coffee. “You make sure that kid keeps his hands to himself. He has a bit of a reputation around here.”

“No worries there,” Kurt scoffed.

“Oh,” his uncle said, sounding a little like being forgetful was normal for him, “I talked to the sheriff this morning. They pulled your car from the marina last night and took it up to be looked at. There was … well, they couldn’t find anything wrong with it. Now I know you said your breaks weren’t working, but there’s no evidence that anything was tampered with.”

Kurt felt flushed. “I wasn’t making that up.”

“I’m not saying you were.”

“I tried to hit the brake a million times.”

His uncle asked, “Maybe you were just panicking and you were hitting the gas instead?”

“No.” Kurt crossed his arms. “I’ve been raised around cars. I know them inside out. I wouldn’t have hit the gas on accident. I knew which was the break, and it wasn’t happening.”

His uncle considered his words for a moment, then continued, “I believe you. But anyway, they can’t find anything wrong with it, and it’s not looking too good for the life of the car. I was advised to let you know that it’s probably going to be a cut and run with the thing.”

Kurt flopped down on his bed. “Absolutely great. So I have no car. Do you know how far away the high school is from here?” It was traumatizing to think that he might have to ride the school bus if it was too far to walk.

His Uncle Andy crooked a finger at him. “Come with me. I have an idea.”

Still dressed in his night clothes, and with only his thin robe pulled over them, Kurt followed his uncle through the house and out, then around the side to the separated garage portion of the property. They walked past his uncle’s parked hybrid, and to the heavy door that blocked off the garage.

“What’re we doing out here?” Kurt asked, pulling his robe tight.

“I almost forgot about this completely,” his uncle said. “But I think it’s going to be the solution to all of your problems. At least for the time being.” With a heavy grunt his uncle lifted the manual garage door and Kurt was standing toe to toe with a faded looking truck.

But it really only was faded paint, Kurt realized, not chipped or cracked or damaged. The cherry red was dulled, but a fresh coat would fit it up in no time. And there didn’t seem to be anything wrong with the truck that he could spot just by looking at it. It was a Chevy, probably early to mid nineties, and in great condition when he popped the hood a moment later.

“It was your father’s.”

Kurt balked a little. “My dad’s?”

His uncle nodded. “He got it as a sweet sixteen present from our dad. Our mom nearly had a fit. Burt was the first in the family to get a license, and she was worried he’d end up killing himself on some dark, desolate stretch of road late one night. I, on the other hand, was probably more in love with the truth than your dad. I made him drive me around all the time. Not go anywhere, just drive. I really … those were good moments, when I could just ride with my big brother in his truck and everyone could see us.”

Kurt inched himself up on his toes and bent further over the truck. “I know what you mean, actually. I really do.”

“But your dad left it behind when he went and you need a ride, so now it’s yours. You may need to fix her up a little, and obviously it needs a paint job, but other than that, it runs perfect. I never had the heart to sell it, even when it was outdated and painful to look at.”

“He left it behind?” Kurt asked, settling back down onto his feet.

“Yeah. Surprised me too.” His uncle leaned against it. “He loved it. Really loved it. But maybe he just didn’t want anyone to be able to track him by it. Or maybe I’m missing the mark completely. I don’t know.” He righted himself and said, “Come on in the house now. We’ll get some breakfast, and then I’ll drive you to the high school. We’ve got enough time for that.”

Kurt gave the truck one last, long look before he reached up and pulled the garage door down, then followed his uncle back to the house.

The local high school was in fact too far for Kurt to have walked. But it was pleasant enough to look at and the kids seemed friendly. A couple of them watched him get out of his uncle’s car and he knew he reeked of being new. In a small town, it was probably impossible for people not to know he was new.

“I can call in to be late,” his uncle promised leaning over the center consul so he could see Kurt properly, “if you want me in there with you.”

Kurt shrugged his shoulders, “Dad and I moved around a lot when I was a kid. I’m used to first days of school. I kind of have the routine down. But thanks.”

“Then do you want me to swing by and pick you up when school is over on my lunch break? Or will you be braving the unimaginable horror of the school bus?”

At that, Kurt cracked a smile. He could see so much of his father in his uncle it was almost scary. “Not necessary,” he laughed. “Sebastian said something about carpooling. I’ll get him to take me home after our shift ends. And if not, the café is actually way closer to the house than the school. I wore my flats.”

His uncle held up a sharp finger. “You remember what I said about making that boy keep his hands to himself. Written in the stars or not.”

Frozen, Kurt wanted to ask what his uncle meant, or why he was repeating phrases used by Sebastian’s mother the day before, but then his uncle was gone, and Kurt was left standing in the parking lot watching his taillights. 

“I knew your father,” the principal said as she handed him his schedule twenty minutes later. “And he didn’t show nearly as much dedication to his studies as you clearly do. All honors, Mr. Hummel. I’m impressed.”

Kurt clutched his schedule tightly and didn’t know if it was an insult or a compliment or both.

“However,” she continued, “he was an excellent role model for his peers on the proper way for young men to conduct themselves, and I’m sure you will be as well. My mother was the principal then, and she never had so much as one bit of problem with him, and he did lead the school to the state championships twice in baseball.”

Kurt met her gaze an admitted, “I’m not one for … sports.”

“The arts then,” she concluded, looking pleased with herself. “We have a variety of art classes offered here in addition to theater, band and glee. You might want to look into one or more of those. You have exceptional grades, and with a bit of extra circular activity you could be on your way to a scholarship to the school of your choice.” She reminded him after about SATS, and the upcoming school fundraiser, and then sent him on his way.

He was barely two steps out into the hallway when he was ambushed by a small, homely girl with mouse brown hair. It took him a moment to place her as Rachel Berry. He didn’t know why he remembered her name, she’d been nothing but annoying to him in the brief, few seconds they’d spoken, but he did. He remembered her. Like he was meant to.

“I knew you were new.”

“School isn’t that big,” Kurt said, hefting his bag up further on his shoulder. “It couldn’t have been that difficult to spot a fresh face.”

She dressed like a toddler, and like a grandmother all at once, in knee high socks, a pleated skirt and a sweater decorated by French poodles. It was distracting as she began, “I don’t know if you remember my name. It’s Rachel. Rachel Berry. My father is on the school council, and the other is the librarian. We’re a very established family here. Just like yours.”

He wasn’t used to being established. In fact he and his father had only lived in Columbus for six years before the fire. The longest stretch ever. He was barely used to people remembering his coffee order, or what class he took first period.

“I’m not really from around here,” he reminded. He’d already missed the first period, and second was coming up quickly. “Just moved in recently. New. Remember?”

“Of course,” she said, like he’d said something profoundly stupid. “Because your father died. Sorry about that. But you have to understand, you are from here. Your bloodline is from here. Your family. This is your home.”

He gritted his teeth. “Look, it was nice to meet you, but I really need to get to class.”

“We waited for you,” she said rushed, grabbing his arm in a pinching grip. “For years. Ever since we realized who … what we were.” Her voice lowered significantly. “And how incomplete we were. This would have all been much simpler if you’d been here from the beginning.”

Kurt tried to pry his arm out of her grip. 

“But you’re here now.”

Kurt asked her flatly, “Is there crazy in the water? Because I’m okay with bottled.”

Her gaze narrowed as she said, “Why didn’t you stop it yesterday?”

“Stop what?” He jerked free of her grasp.

She was so wide eyed it almost looked painful. And then she stuttered, “The accident? Your breaks. The … water.”

She reached for him again, and this time it wasn’t this clothed sleeve that her fingers reached, it was the bare skin of his wrist. The touch lasted only a second before Kurt jerked away, before static sparked between them. Shouting in surprise Kurt threw up an arm to protect his face as a bank of lockers slammed open and shot their contents all over the hall.

Kurt froze, eyes locked with an equally still Rachel. “That was …”

“Amazing!” Rachel gave an honest squeal. “That was a million times better than anything we’ve ever been able to do. Wow. Incredible! We weren’t even concentrating on anything. That was pure instinct. Your instinct!”

Kurt gaped at her. “What is wrong with you? Something seriously crazy just happened and you’re excited about it!”

She settled down as quickly as she could and rubbed out her skirt until she was certain the creases were perfect again. “I know,” she said with a pitchy voice, “it’s all very erratic, but that’s why we need to bind the circle. Everything will be much safer once we do. These things won’t happen nearly as often as they do.”

Anxiety and worry were clawing their way up Kurt’s throat. How did she know these kinds of things had started happening unexpectedly to him since he’d been attacked? How could she know that impossible occurrences had happened with the man in the auto shop, and then again with Sebastian, and with her.

“You’re crazy,” Kurt said simply. 

“You don’t need to look so worried,” she told him plainly. “It’s what you’re here for, you know. To complete us. To bind the--”

“You stay away from me.” Kurt took a physical step back from her. “I don’t know what you’re talking about, but you’re making me uncomfortable.” Completely freaking him out, more like it.

She looked confused. “I don’t …”

Kurt said, “Just leave me alone.”

“Rachel.”

It was the other boy, the one from yesterday. Short with gel slicked hair and a warning look on his face for Rachel.

“Blaine,” she hissed at him. “I don’t think he knows.”

Blaine’s gaze flickered to Kurt right away, equal parts sorry and surprised. “Really?”

“Know what?” Kurt asked. 

The universe, full of mercy, took pity on Kurt in that moment. The bell to end first period sounded and the hall was packed with teenagers, giving Kurt the opportunity to slip away and to his first class at his new school.

It was a welcomed distraction, the classes and new material to learn. And the best part was that as he moved from French, to Statistics, to English and then Chemistry, there was no Rachel Berry waiting for him, or the other boy, Blaine. They were gone, sharing none of his classes. And they weren’t waiting for him in the wings, either, ready to ambush him between classes.

There was only Jesse, who wanted to be his partner in French, and Mike who was on the football team and kept pestering him to come hang out after school at his parent’s herbal shop to work on their chemistry project.

He had lunch alone, hidden at the back of the school’s library, despite several invitations to eat lunch with new friends. It was too soon. He just wanted to be alone, and distance himself from anything that made him uncomfortable. Unfortunately, most things in Washington did.

After lunch he headed to Government, and settled into a front row desk after handing his slip of paper to the teacher. Thankfully he seemed just as unimpressed with Kurt being new as Kurt felt, and let it go on without making note of it. Instead there was a movie to watch that day in class and Kurt settled in for the wait.

A tap on his shoulder distracted him. He tried to ignore it, but then it came again, and he had to look. The teacher certainly didn’t seem to be keeping track of the class, not with his head tipped back and his eyes closed. 

“Hey.”

“What?” Kurt asked in a quiet whisper, turning to see a devastatingly beautiful blonde was the culprit, a seductive grin on her face. 

“Is your dog okay?”

It was her. From the water accident. When Sebastian had been holding him tight, keeping him calm, she’d been there, taking care of Knight. She’d dried his dog with her coat despite the chilly weather. 

“I know you,” he said. “You were taking care of Knight for me until the paramedic got there.”

Her hair bobbed as she nodded. “Is that his name? Knight? Like in shinning armor? Or as in the opposite of day?”

“In shining armor,” he told her easily, resting an arm across the front of her desk. “It was a joke, I guess, between my father and I. I was clumsy as a child. He got me the dog so I’d have an extra pair of eyes to watch out for me, and the name just came about naturally.” He offered her his own smile. “I’m Kurt.”

“Quinn,” she said, voice like music. “And I’m sorry about your father.”

The smile fell from Kurt’s face. “Does everyone know about that?”

“Probably.”

“Great,” he groaned. The last thing he wanted was a line of people and their sympathies.

“It’s a small town,” she said, head ducking closer to his. “And your family is very well known.”

Kurt gave her a look. “I’ve heard that a lot around here too.”

The video droned on in the background and Quinn asked him, “But your dog is okay, right? Knight is okay?”

“He’s fine,” Kurt answered. “He’s a tough dog. Been through a lot, actually. You did an amazing job getting him dry and warm, though. So thank you.”

A pretty blush settled on her face. “I like dogs.” He could feel her eyes tracing the contours of his face, searching something out, and it probably should have made him uncomfortable, but it didn’t. Not even when she asked, “Do you know what happened? With your car?”

He had the shrug. “No. The breaks weren’t working, I tried them a million times, but they weren’t. And then I swerved to avoid hitting some people and there’s just a lot of confusion after that. I don’t remember much. The airbags deploying, the water filling the car, not being able to get out, and then Sebastian. But my Uncle Andy told me the local mechanic couldn’t find anything wrong with my breaks. It’s completely crazy.”

Quinn looked absolutely sinful as she said, “Sebastian was pretty heroic the way he dove in the water for you. Wasn’t he?”

Kurt rolled his eyes. “I’m surprised he was willing to get within a hundred feet of that water. Unless, of course, he was looking to garner some kind of favor.” Kurt said dully, “Of a sexual nature.”

“Sebastian is a real pain in the ass.” She leaned forward on an elbow. “He’s cocky, arrogant, rude and over sexualizes everything. He’s made out with the whole of the junior class, and he’s been working his way through the senior one for months. I personally hold that he fully subscribes to the belief that he is infallible. He thinks that much of himself.” Her face sobered, “But I saw the whole thing. From start to finish. And he was out the door and going after you before your car was even under. He didn’t think twice, and I promise you, he wasn’t doing it to make you like him. He was doing it just to save your life. No ulterior motives.”

That was food for thought. “He just comes off as such a pig.”

Delighted, Quinn said, “Sebastian is a good representation of this town, Kurt. He’s not what he appears to be. There are a lot of layers to peel back, and a lot of things you can’t see yet or take at face value.”

Kurt tapped his finger silently against Quinn’s desk and wondered, “But there are things that don’t make sense about yesterday.”

“Like what?”

With a grimace, Kurt said, “The brakes, of course. And how did Sebastian get my car door open? There was too much water pressure forcing the door closed. It doesn’t make any sense.”

To that, Quinn didn’t seem to have an answer for Kurt.

“This whole place,” he said, “it’s got this weird vibe. It’s a bad feeling crawling under my skin.”

Quinn frowned. “This is your home, Kurt. It’s where you belong.”

Kurt turned back around in his seat and put his eyes to the television. Washington wasn’t his home. His home was with his father, and now that the man was gone Kurt was homeless. He didn’t belong anywhere. As far as he was concerned, he was only biding his time until he could get out, and go away to college, and be in a place where lights didn’t explode around him, and people didn’t tell him how sorry they were that his father was dead. People who knew more about his father than Kurt did, apparently.

Kurt left the classroom as fast as he could when the bell rang and dashed his way across campus to his last class of the day. It was his requested class. The only one he’d been looking forward to the entire day. His single elective class. 

“I take it you already play an instrument?” the music teacher asked, holding sheet music in his hands as he balanced a metronome and auto tuner. “I can’t have anyone else in this class at this point in the year who doesn’t already.”

“I do,” Kurt assured him, stepping out of the way as a student hurried by with a music stand. “Piano. I’ve taken lessons since I was six. I was part of the symphonic band in Columbus. Where I moved from.”

“Sorry to break it to you,” the teacher said, gesturing for Kurt to follow him to his office. “But we’re not going to be half as big here, as your old ensemble was back in Columbus. We’re not going to be offer you as much.”

Some seemed better than none. “Do you have a piano?”

The teacher dropped the sheet music to his desk and actually looked excited. “We have a piano. And we also have a violinist. And he’s had nothing to do the entire year, not since most of our strings graduated the previous year and we couldn’t keep our quota.” The man pressed a hand to his chest. “I’ve just had a brilliant idea.”

“Okay?” Kurt asked, absolutely certain now that the whole of the town was crazy.

“You’re going to be our violinist’s accompaniment.”

Slowly, Kurt agreed, “There are quiet a few pieces that are perfectly suited for that kind of duet.”

“You’ll do shows together,” the teacher continued, “that will amaze people while drawing acclaim, and I’ll be praised, and finally, finally, I’ll get the recognition I deserve.”

Kurt’s eyebrows arched up. “You sound excited.” He cleared his throat. “Maybe you could just show me to the piano so I can check it out. It sounds like you haven’t had a pianist in a while. It might be out of tune.”

“Wait. Wait.” The teacher held up his hands and commanded, “Just wait here. I’ll go get our violinist. You two should start working together as soon as possible. The winter concert is only four weeks away.”

The teacher stumbled his way from the room and all Kurt could think of was the first time his father had sat him down in front of a piano and given him the distraction he’d needed from the constant moving and the unanswered questions he had about his father’s past. He’d taken to it naturally, like a fish to water, and excelled with every teacher he’d ever had. They’d still continued to move, and he’d never really owned his own piano for more than a few years, but he hadn’t let himself grow rusty, and it was still his great escape. 

“Well now, isn’t this unexpected.”

Kurt groaned. This was not happening.

“I knew you couldn’t get enough of me.”

Kurt palmed his forehead.

“And I had a feeling you were good with your fingers.”

The music teacher burst back into the room as Kurt turned to face a smirking Sebastian. “I see you two are getting on well!”

Kurt gave the man a flat look. “We’ve had a previous encounter.”

“Great!”

Kurt said quietly, “Not really.”

Sebastian continued to grin widely, as the teacher went on, “Then I’ll leave you two to get settled. Sebastian knows where the advanced sheet music is kept, and you’ll have to run your final choice by me for approval, but I’m pretty sure you boys know what’s best suited for your duet.”

Kurt felt his mouth pull. “I’m not certain a duet is really the best idea.”

“Nonsense!” Sebastian cut in. “We’re going to be great together. I’ve got a feeling.” Kurt could assume which kind.

“Use the spare practice room,” the teacher said over his shoulder as the band in the main room continued to warm up. “Sebastian will show you where it is, Kurt. That’s where you’ll find the piano.” Then he was gone, dropping his auto tuner and knocking his glasses askew all in one movement.

“What?” Kurt asked when he felt Sebastian’s gaze back on him.

“Nothing,” the taller boy claimed. 

Kurt sighed out, “Are you even really a violinist?”

It was then that Kurt noticed there was a violin shaped case in Sebastian’s hands, and it looked like an expensive one at that. The case alone held promise, but Kurt wasn’t willing to admit anything just yet.

“I’ve been playing,” Sebastian said with an airy arrogance, “longer than you have. I can tell you that much. My mother practically threw the thing at me in infancy.”

“And now you’ve mastered Mary Had a Little Lamb on it?”

The corner of Sebastian’s mouth perk up even more. Kurt hadn’t thought it possible. Then he commanded, “Follow me.”

The spare room that they were supposed to use was located right next to the main music classroom, but Kurt saw it was much smaller and a lot more intimate than he would have liked. There was, however, a piano in the corner and a chair that Sebastian nudged him towards.

“You show me yours and I’ll show you mine,” Sebastian leered.

“Your comments are just painful now,” Kurt told him.

The violin was a thing of beauty. Cherry wood, flawless in its shine, and proof beyond doubt that it was handed with the utmost care. Kurt watched Sebastian hold it with tenderness and a sense of care he hadn’t really thought possible. And then Sebastian was pressing it into place, against his skin, and said, “Tchaikovsky. So you can actually follow the intricacies of the piece, and not just sit there like a pretty doll.”

Part of Kurt absolutely hated that Sebastian was absolutely brilliant. But mostly he was completely captivated by the way he was witness to how Sebastian swayed gently, consumed by the music, defined by it even. The teen was obviously feeling the way Kurt did when he lost himself in his piano, and it was beautiful. 

“You can clap now.”

The piece had seemingly gone on forever, but eventually there was Sebastian’s statement and Kurt had to open his own eyes and admit, “You’re better than I am.”

“Of course,” Sebastian laughed. “I just told you I’ve been playing longer than you.”

“No,” Kurt said, standing. “It’s not that. You have … a much stronger connection to the music than I do. I can hear it. It’s beautiful and it's raw and you are talented.” As much as an ass Sebastian was, he was magnificent, and Kurt was beginning to look forward to playing with him.

The praise seemed to offset Sebastian, and he looked a little lost before stating, “Of course I’m naturally talented.” He cleared his throat. “I’ve heard the word prodigy before.”

Kurt fought down his own laugh. “And there it is again.”

“What?” Sebastian asked, placing the violin back in its case.

Kurt only shrugged. “If you only dropped the bravado, and the inappropriate sexual comments, of course, you wouldn’t be half as difficult to deal with.”

Nonplused, Sebastian charged, “If you dropped your pants I could make everything go away.”

Kurt barely glanced his direction. “I seriously doubt that.” 

He moved to inspect the piano. It was a Baldwin, dusty and a little faded, and it clearly hadn’t been used in a while. It made him think of the glee club the principal had tried to offer him as an elective. They probably had a newer, better piano. He wondered what the chances of getting permission to borrow it for a concert were.

“And can you actually play, princess?”

Kurt rounded the piano. “Been taking lessons since I was six. But never the same instructor, so my form has suffered. Would you like to hear some Tchaikovsky as well? I remember a bit, though he’s not my favorite composer by far.”

“No?” Sebastian asked, drawing closer.

“No,” Kurt confirmed. “I like the more romantic compositions. But I’m sure you probably could have figured that out after all.”

Kurt sat at the bench after dusting it off, letting his fingers just rest above the keys. And then something drew his attention back to Sebastian, who was watching him with widened eyes and a closed mouth and undivided, judgeless attention. 

He felt like he might regret it, but he offered, “Go ahead and sit next to me.” He scooted to the side and was almost a little startled by how fast Sebastian was next to him, close, but not touching. Kurt remember what had happened the last time they’d touched.

The piano was horribly out of tune. So much that when he tried to play something, Sebastian squawked indignantly about him being a liar and a fraud. 

“It’s out of tune,” Kurt said a bit tiredly. “Stop being over dramatic.”

Sebastian crossed his arms. “That’s a likely story.”

Kurt rolled his eyes. “You were unnecessarily sharp at different points in your piece and I said nothing. Don’t begrudge me this when it’s out of my hands.”

“I was taking artistic liberties!” Sebastian defended. 

When the conversation fell quiet between them Kurt was aware of how they’d slid closer together and were very nearly touching.

Kurt asked suddenly, unable to help himself, “Why did you save me? The other day. When I had my accident.”

Eyes turned away, Sebastian stated simply, “You saw how understaffed we are at the coffee shop. I couldn’t afford to lose my new barista. If that meant saving your ass, then that’s what it did. It’s way too difficult to replace someone with your ass.”

“I’m serious.”

“So am I.”

“There was a girl there yesterday who saw everything. She’s in one of my classes. She says she saw the whole thing from start to finish and you didn’t even hesitate to go in.”

Sebastian was impossibly tight lipped.

“She said,” he continued, “it looked like you didn’t even have to think twice. You went in after me right away, and not everyone has that kind of reaction to a dangerous situation, especially when it comes to someone they’ve only just met.”

Sebastian took his hand, and Kurt might have startled, but this time there was no shock, only a dull, warm pulse of something between them. His fingers slid between Sebastian’s and the boy said, “My dad drowned.” That was it, but he could have said a million words on the subject. 

“I’m sorry.”

“Yours burned.”

Kurt shook his hand free of Sebastian’s right away, standing almost forcefully enough to knock the boy over. “Why would you say that?”

The teen shrugged. “Just that I have the feeling that you’re sensitive about it. And if you knew someone was in danger, in a burning building or whatever, you might try and be a hero. It’s instinct for me. It might be for you.”

It itched under his skin that Sebastian knew that. That he was able to pick it up about him, and deduce it within a second or two of conversation, and be so sure about it. Sebastian acted like he’d known Kurt his whole life, knew who he was and what he was like and as if they were comfortable with each other. Or should have been.

And they were. 

Sebastian was like none of the boys Kurt had ever liked, and he made him mad or embarrassed faster than he appreciated. But Sebastian was also like something ingeniously simplistic. Comforting and challenging and exciting. Wonderful in its unexpectedness. 

Slowly, once more, Sebastian reached out for his hand, and there was the warmth again. The energy.

Breathless, maybe a little light headed, Kurt asked, “What is that?”

“What’s what?” Sebastian asked, with a smile on his face that said he knew exactly what Kurt meant.

“This?” Kurt looked pointedly down at their twined fingers. “When you touch me … there’s this feeling. Energy. Warmth. I don’t know. It’s tingly and …” Terrifying? Amazing? Confusing. That last one for sure. 

“So I’ve got magic fingers.”

“No,” Kurt said sharply. “What is this?” He couldn’t tell Sebastian about the man who’d attacked him on the night of his father’s death. He couldn’t tell Sebastian that he’d been absolutely certain he was going to die that night, and then come home to find that it was his father who’d been killed. But he could say, “Rachel Berry tried to touch me and something happened. Something bad.”

“Berry,” Sebastian snorted. “I told her to keep away from you.”

“What?” Kurt demanded. 

Definitively, Sebastian said, “Rachel is an absolute nutter. Personally I think she hasn’t been the same since she lost the class secretary position to Tina. Berry is … she’s pretty sure she’s god’s gift to this school. Or at least to its student body.”

“I thought that was you.”

Sebastian made a sour face at him. “What I mean is she’s overachieving, loud, annoying, pushy, and incapable of being around people without pissing them off. And those are her best qualities.”

“You two must be friends then. You’re so similar.”

“I want you to know,” Sebastian told him solemnly, “That you’re only turning me on with all this talk. I like a challenge, you know. You’re just making me interested.”

“Great.” Kurt squeezed Sebastian’s hand. “Is she your friend?”

Sebastian didn’t seem sure. “I’ve known her since kindergarten. Everyone in the school is like that. I’ve had some time to learn how to deal with her. And we have a certain … family history, you could say. We’re really bound together. So I’m not sure if it matters that she’s my friend or not.”

Kurt pointed out, “But you said you told her to--”

Sebastian arched an eyebrow and raised their joined hands. “Not to throw this all on you. Now when we realized you didn’t have a clue who you were.”

“What …”

“What you are.”

For a second time Kurt freed himself from Sebastian’s grasp. “I touched her and I blew open every single locker in that hallway. There was this weird surge of power between us and it was like everything exploded. Everything!”

“Kurt.”

“Someone could have gotten hurt!” 

That man Fischer could have hurt him. Instinctively, Kurt had know that man in his father’s shop had wanted to hurt him. The man would have killed him. He would have if the lights hadn’t … all broken, and things hadn’t gone to hell in a second.

“It wasn’t on purpose what she did,” Sebastian said confidently. “It’s just what happens when we touch each other and we're not concentrating. It's a melding of power.”

“I thought it was just Rachel who was crazy,” Kurt said, voice raising and feeling a little hysterical. “But now I can clearly see that it’s everyone in this town.”

Sebastian stood so he was eye level with Kurt. “You get into trouble and things happen, right? Someone you don’t want touching you does, and then things explode. You meet people who know more about you than you know about yourself and have the answers to the questions you don’t even know to ask, and suddenly we’re the crazy ones?”

He had to know, he absolutely had to, so he asked, “What is happening when you and I touch? I nearly destroyed a hallway when Rachel touched me, but it’s different with you.”

Sebastian looked so angry. “That’s just fate, Kurt.”

“Fate,” Kurt snapped. 

“Yes. Just like you coming to live with your Uncle here, instead of your Aunt in Seattle. Fate has a way of righting itself, Kurt. And you can’t run from it. Trust me. I’ve tried.” Sebastian looked utterly broken in that moment. “And so did your dad. Look what happened.”

Kurt barely had the mind to grab his bag before he rushed from the room. He couldn’t breathe, his vision was spotty with tears and all he wanted was his father. He wanted his father so badly. To hold him and just tell him things were going to be okay. 

He ended up in the bathroom, barricaded in a stall and unable to get Sebastian’s words out of his mind. Or the truth they held. The truth he knew somehow deep in him. 

He didn’t come out until the period was over and school was done for the day. Then he was able blend into the crowd of student and just be anonymous.

“Need a ride?”

An arm linked through Kurt’s suddenly and he had Quinn plastered to his side as he drudged down the hallway. “Maybe.”

She added quickly, “I’m sorry about upsetting you earlier.”

She looked absolutely sincere so he gave her a short nod and said, “I’m running a pretty short fuse here right now. I’m sorry for not having more patience.” It took him a moment to realize she was holding his bare hand, and unlike Rachel where there had been a volatile reaction, or Sebastian where Kurt had felt powerfully invincible, Quinn’s touch was tenderly loving. In fact there was only the barest hint of warmth between them, but it was a kind that reminded Kurt of his father. Of the way his hugs had felt.

“So we’re both sorry,” she concluded, “and that means neither of us should feel guilty.” She gave a firm nod and steered him towards the school parking lot. “Am I taking you home? Or did you maybe want to coffee first? You, Kurt Hummel, are the most exciting thing to happen to this town in years.”

Kurt groaned at the mention of coffee. He explained, “I’m supposed to be starting work at the Smythe coffee shop today. I needed the money before my car was wasted. I can’t afford not to have the job now.” And he really hoped Sebastian didn’t hold that day’s encounter against him. He remembered the man saying there wasn’t a lot of work to choose from.

“I’ve got homework,” she said simply enough, “and coffee always makes my math go faster. How about I drive you and get a cup while I’m there?”

The offer sounded good, and it was a lot better than trying to walk the distance. He wasn’t even really sure where the shop was in relation to the school. 

“That sounds … really good, actually. As long as you can promise me that I won’t have to share a car with Rachel Berry.” He could honestly see her down the hall, trying to duck behind an open locker and pretend like she wasn’t watching him. She had the other boy, Blaine, next to her. He wondered if they always came in a pair. 

“Unlikely,” Quinn assured him. “I think you’ve scared her off for the time being.”

Kurt frowned. “What do you mean?”

“This morning,” Quinn said easily.

Kurt skidded to a stop. “She told you that?” About him being a freak? About him losing control and being something impossible. Being dangerous. “You’re …” Not freaked out? Not scared? Not even … surprised?

Quinn patted the back of his hand patiently, sparking that loving feeling again. “You’ve got a lot to learn about this town and about yourself, Kurt. And we’re only here to help you. No one is going to push you into anything you aren’t ready for. Well, Rachel might try, but that’s just her. And we won’t let her.”

“We.”

“We.” Quinn smiled softly. “But for now you just come with me. I’m going to take you to work and after, whenever it might be, you let me know when you’re ready.”

“Ready for what?”

Rachel continued to hide behind the locker, but Blaine gave Kurt a small, tentative wave. Kurt couldn’t help waving back.

Quinn told him, “Ready to know.”

To that, Kurt wasn’t sure what to think.

His saving grace likely was that he didn’t need to. By the time they got to the coffee shop Sebastian was already serving a decent sized crowd of teenagers fresh from the high school. There wasn’t time for thinking or talking and Sebastian, maybe a little sorry, put him with a pretty black girl for training on the main machine and after that didn’t say two words to him.

But there were the stares. He could feel Sebastian watching him the entire time the girl, Mercedes, trained him. Watching in an unnerving way. 

“I’m sorry for you,” Mercedes told him as he pulled his apron off and prepared to take his break. Quinn was waiting for him across the café but she looked dangerously close to leaving.

“For what?”

She nudged him playfully and said, “You’ve caught Sebastian’s eye. That’s never good. He’s not exactly good stock.”

Kurt gave her a dirty look. “He did save me.” He couldn’t explain why he suddenly felt so protective over the teen. “And he gave me this job.”

Mercedes didn’t seem to have any real ill will towards Sebastian as she told Kurt, “I’m just trying to warn you. He goes through people faster than socks.”

“Maybe he’s looking for the right one.” That felt like the right thing to say.

“Or just for a little excitement.” She wasn’t sure either way. “But be careful, okay?”

Kurt gave her a thankful nod and headed over to Quinn.

She said to him, “I was thinking you weren’t ever going to get a break.”

“It’s busy,” Kurt said, feeling a little winded. “Busier than I thought. Is this the only coffee spot in town?”

“Just the youngest,” Quinn said. She tapped a pencil on her open notebook. “There’s another up closer by the school, but our parents like to go there, and a lot of our teachers. Nothing says uncomfortable like having your mom in line in front of you and your geometry teacher behind you. Most of us come here just to get away from them. They won’t come out this far. Not with the water.”

Kurt frowned. “The water?”

She nodded out towards the harbor. “Yeah. The water. It’s got a lot of bad memories for most of them. With the accident and all.”

Kurt was still confused. “There was an accident?”

“You don’t …” she seemed shocked, “you don’t know? About the accident? The one that killed your mom?”

Icy fear paralyzed him. “I …” He knew there was an accident, of course. He knew his mother had been killed when he was only a baby, and that it had happened in the town that shhis father had grown up in, but he’d never thought to look into it. Not even being back here. He’d put it from his mind almost completely. 

Quinn told him kindly, “I’m not really sure about the details, but about fifteen years ago there was an accident out in that harbor. A bunch of our parents went out there one day. They were on Sebastian’s mother’s boat. Well, it belonged to her parents, but they always let her and her friends use it. A bunch of people had keys to it."

Kurt felt his mind spinning. “What happened?”

Quinn looked back to the harbor. “They took it out one day. I don’t know what happened, but there was an accident. The boat sank. A lot of people died. Your mother … my father … Sebastian’s father … a lot of people.”

So that was it. The accident. The one that his father never wanted to talk about.

“And you don’t know the details?”

Quinn shook her head. “I’m not sure anyone does. Only a few people survived and none of them have ever talked about it.”

“Wait, you said your dad died too?”

“Our parents were all friends.” Quinn’s delicate looking hands curled tightly around her mug of coffee had had to be cold by now. “They went to high school together and with a few exceptions, they had us all around the same time. I think they were having a party out on the boat. There might have been alcohol involved but no one knows for sure. Only that something went wrong and a lot of people drowned.”

Kurt sucked in a deep breath as Quinn asked him if he was okay. He replied, “Yes. I mean, my father never gave me any details. About my mother’s death. It was always too painful for him. I never knew … I’m just surprised, that’s all.” He thought back to her words suddenly, and asked, “You said Sebastian’s father died in the accident, too?”

Quinn ticked off on her fingers, “Blaine’s mother, one of Rachel’s fathers, both of Noah’s parents and about a dozen other people. It was a big accident, Kurt.”

“Noah?”

Quinn waved him off.

“Quinn,” Kurt tried, “how don’t they know at all what happened?”

The blonde shook her head. “No clue. There was never an official cause of the accident decided. And it wasn’t as if there was a crime scene to preserve. The boat is at the bottom of the bay out there. Most of our parents, the ones that are left, won’t even admit it happened.”

“She died out there,” Kurt mumbled quietly to himself, looking out to the water. That was where his mother had died. Right there.

“I would have been a little more tactful,” Quinn said by way of apology, “if I had known that you didn’t know the specifics. I forgot, you know, that all of us have grown up knowing this since we were old enough to understand. You’re just learning.”

Kurt caught Sebastian’s eye from across the café as the teen wiped down a distant table. He looked concerned for only a moment, then there was a dirty leer heading Kurt’s way.

Kurt gave a sigh of disappointment. 

“He’s got it bad.”

“Huh?”

Quinn shook her head slowly. “Sebastian. And I’d watch out if I were you.”

“Because he’s my boss technically?” He’d lready gotten a fair warning from Mercedes.

“That,” Quinn agreed, “and because Blaine Anderson may seem like a dapper little boy, but he’s got claws, and he’s been trying to date Sebastian since we were in grade school.”

“Blaine?” Kurt asked suddenly. “I thought he and Rachel …”

Quinn burst out laughing loudly. “Oh, god, no. Blaine Anderson is so inclined to prefer men. And Rachel … well, who knows with her. She just likes attention. I think gender is less important. But about Blaine. Try to not rub it in his face. He can be annoying like Rachel, but he’s got feelings worth considering.”

With a frown Kurt stated, “You make it seem like I’m going to steal Sebastian from him or something.”

She gave him a knowing smile.

“I don’t even like Sebastian!” He hoped he didn’t really sound that desperate. 

“Sure.”

“I don’t!”

He couldn’t help looking back over to Sebastian, to where the boy was balancing a tray of dirty dishes expertly. There was the sway of his hips and the stretch of his shoulders that had Kurt feeing a little heated. He had to look away quickly.

“That’s what I thought.”

“He’s an ass.”

“Agreed,” Quinn giggled, “but there are some redeeming qualities. And there’s a lot more to him than you might be able to see.”

“You’ve said that before. In relation to this town as well.”

“Holds true.” She closed her books and began to pack up. “He’s not so bad. Overbearing and pompous, but I think he can be trained. That can’t be said for all the boys in this town.”

When she was left he still had a few minutes of his break remaining and only his thoughts for company. He couldn’t help thinking back to Sebastian again, and how it felt when they touched, and then what had happened with Rachel. And the man who’d tried to hurt him.

Then he thought about his mother, young and beautiful and at the bottom of the ocean somewhere with a boat and so many of her friends. Quinn hadn’t been able to give him many details, but it was still so much more than he’d known before. And now he wanted to know more. He had a craving for the truth, concerning both his mother and whatever was going on with himself. 

Quinn had left before he could tell her he was ready.

“Sebastian,” Kurt tried when he came back from his break. He wasn’t sure how to broach the subject now, but he knew he couldn’t let it go. 

“Go get the dishes at table twelve.” 

There was a strange distance between them suddenly. It was something Kurt hated.

By the end of his shift Sebastian had said barely a dozen words to him. They’d been perfectly civilized words, but few all the same. Something felt like it had changed. 

“Could you give me a ride home?” he had to ask Mercedes, almost afraid to ask Sebastian.

She agreed easily enough and Kurt went to turn in his apron to Sebastian.

“Should I come back tomorrow?” Kurt asked softly, peeking his head into the manager’s office. Sebastian was at the desk there, going through recipes. “I’m not sure about my schedule.”

“Do you even want to be here?” Sebastian asked, looking up at him with fierce eyes.

Kurt felt ambushed. “Of course. I need this job. I really appreciate having it.”

“No,” Sebastian said venomously, “here.”

“In Washington?” Kurt asked, unsure. 

“Here!”

Kurt was only confused.

Sebastian held for a moment, then he shook his head and said, “You want a full schedule?” Kurt nodded numbly. “I can give you Wednesdays and Thursdays off. I need you on the weekend. If you can do that, then come back tomorrow. If not, I’ll find someone to replace you.”

“Sebastian.”

Angrily, Sebastian rocked to his feet. “You’re not the only one,” he snapped. “We’re going blind here, too. You’re not the only one and you don’t get to act to hurt over everything. We’re hurting too.”

“I’m not sure …”

“You don’t want to hear it.” Sebastian squared his shoulders. “You want to pretend like it’s all gibberish. And I know you don’t understand, but you feel that this is real. You get that it’s something important. You do and I won’t let you say otherwise. We’ve waited for you for so long, to make our circle complete. To complete us. We shouldn’t be penalized because your dad--”

“Don’t you dare talk about my dad!”

“What’re you going to do?” Sebastian demanded. “Get mad and crack some more lights? Well we’ve been doing that for years, so about time you caught up!”

“Why are you being such a jerk!”

Sebastian shouted at him, and everyone could probably hear, “Because we waited for you! I waited! And then you show up and you don’t know anything. And you don’t want to!”

His hands had curled into fists at some point, but instead of letting himself get more angry, and instead of breaking something, he took a deep breath and Kurt said, “I’m just scared.”

“You’re not the only one.” Sebastian seemed to be pleading with him, but over what, Kurt was uncertain. "I'm scared too."

Kurt's hands fell completely loose and with one more, final breath, he leaned forward to brace his hands on the desk. “Well … good.”

“Good?” Sebastian asked in a confused way.

Kurt repeated, “Good,” and then left.


	4. Questions

Knight yelped angrily as Kurt nearly ran him over on his way to the bathroom in the morning, a toothbrush hanging out of his mouth and his clothes askew from where he’d tried to rush that morning. “Sorry!” he mumbled at the dog, who was looking like he might take the act personal.

He caught himself on the bathroom doorway with a heavy thump and groaned, looking down at his twisted feet that were clothed in dark socks.

“Kurt?” his uncle called up the stairs. “You okay?”

Kurt pulled the toothbrush from his mouth and shouted back, “Fine! Just having a …” he decided, “a wardrobe malfunction.”

“Okay. Hurry up. I want to talk to you before we leave.”

Kurt brushed his teeth as quickly as he could, rubbed Knight apologetically, and then finished completing his outfit. “I promise,” he told his dog, “tomorrow is my day off at the coffee shop. I’m going to spend some real time with you then. We’ll go for a walk, and I think Uncle Andy has a nice sized backyard for you to run around in. It’ll be great.” He dropped a kiss to Knight’s head.

He was sitting on the edge of the bed, pulling up his boots when he saw his neighbor, framed in the window across the way, watching him with a smirk. Kurt’s first response, naturally, was to ignore him. But then the teen didn’t seem to be interested in moving, and Kurt couldn’t very well finish under that kind of scrutiny. 

“What?” he mouthed at the boy. And yes, he was absolutely certain he’d drawn the curtains again that night. 

The boy made a motion as if he couldn’t hear what Kurt was saying, and that gave him the right to continue to stare. 

“Fine,” Kurt said through gritted teeth. He stalked over to the window and lifted it up, letting in the chilly morning air. He bent forward, and when his upper body was squeezed through he called out, “What’s your problem?” The other window was open so Kurt knew he was being heard. 

“Kurt?”

Kurt bumped is head as his uncle’s voice sounded behind him.

“Yes.” He slowly ducked back in the room and turned to face the man.

His uncle arched an eyebrow. “What’re you doing?”

“There’s this joker next door …” Kurt thumbed towards the teen, but when Kurt looked back he was gone, and there as only an open window and curtains swaying in the breeze. “He was just there. You have to believe me.”

His uncle held up a hand. “Oh, I believe you. I’m very familiar with Noah Puckerman. He set my mailbox on fire last summer. He claimed it was an accident, but I had the fire department on my lawn for hours. You don’t want to know how long after the jokes persisted.”

“So you know the guy next door?”

Once more, his uncle said, “His name is Noah Puckerman. He lives there with his grandmother. His grandfather passed away a couple of years ago, and his parents before that. He’s your typical guy. Just out of his teens. Maybe he’s a little too rambunctious, but he’s not malicious in the trouble he gets into, so I’m willing to overlook most of it. He does, however, have a thing for … his more attractive peers. I’d suggest you keep your curtains drawn.”

“I have been,” Kurt groaned, head tipping back. “They have a wonderful way of opening seemingly on their own.”

His uncle pursed his lips, then said, “Well, come on. I’ve got something to show you before we leave, and you should eat something before school starts.”

“Wait.” Kurt felt his eyebrows draw together. “You said his name is Noah?”

“Yes. Puckerman. His family has lived next door for as long as ours has been here. A very long time.”

Now he knew where the name sounded familiar. Yesterday, at the café, Quinn had been telling him what she knew about the boating accident that had claimed the lives of his mother and several of her friends. Quinn had said that someone named Noah had lost both of his parents.

“Were Noah’s parents on the boat when it sunk? With my mom?”

He saw the flush drain from his uncle’s face, and then was his muscles tensed, followed by the absolute look of distraught on the man’s face. Kurt regretted his words right away, but he couldn’t avoid them, and he couldn’t pretend he wasn’t curious.

“I don’t really think that we should talk about this.” He saw his uncle swallow hard. “Who’ve you been talking to about the accident?”

Kurt shrugged, bending to finish with his boot. “There’s a girl in my class. Quinn. Her father died in the accident.”

“Fabray.”

“Huh?”

“Quinn Fabray.” His uncle breathed out sharply. “And her father Edward. He and your father never really got along. They cared deeply for each other, they’d known each other forever, but they always had vastly different ideas.”

“What do you mean?”

“Just different ideas,” his uncle said. “And it ended up tearing a rift between them.”

Kurt paused, then broached again, “I never knew anything about my mother’s accident. I didn’t even know it was a boating accident until Quinn told me. She was able to tell me a little bit. There was a party? And a bunch of people were on the boat?”

“Not sure it was a party,” his uncle corrected. 

That sounded like this uncle knew something. “Can you … is there anything you can tell me about what happened.”

“No,” his uncle said gruffly.

“Please.” He didn’t care if it sounded like he was pleading. 

But his uncle repeated firmly, “No, Kurt. It’s not something spoken of. It was a horrible tragedy. A lot of children lost one or more parents, and this town was never the same again. There’s something to be said for respecting the dead, Kurt.”

“But this is my mother.”

The tension hung heavy between them, and Kurt was certain his uncle wouldn’t budge from his position. But then the man said, “This is what I know. Your father was here, with us at this very house because it was the day before your Aunt Mildred’s birthday. He was helping to plan her surprise birthday party. It was going to be her sweet sixteen. But Burt was nervous. Preoccupied, I guess. Then he got a call, took it in the parlor and I remember him looking very pale. He left right after, making our mom swear to keep you in sight at all times, and we didn’t have a clue what was going on. He just said your mother needed him, but I know it wasn’t her who was on the phone. And as much as he had to go, I know he didn’t want to.”

“He didn’t want to go? Why not?”

Uneasily, his uncle admitted, “Your father and mother were having problems at that point. In their marriage. They’d only been married a short while, a little over a year, but their differences were … making things challenging. Your mother was …” His uncle broke off and seemed unsure of the right words. “Your father stopped agreeing with your mother. That’s probably the best way I can put it. If he ever agreed with her in the first place, and wasn’t just blinded by his love for her. I think they were headed for a divorce, or maybe just a separation. It was hard to tell.”

“But eventually he went?” He tried not to dwell on the thought that his parents might have had an unhappy marriage. Kurt was under no illusions that it had been perfect, but trouble in paradise hadn’t been expected either. 

“Yes. That’s when he went, to where all of their friends were, out on the water. To the best of my knowledge they’d gone without him. They’d taken Evangeline Smythe’s family’s boat and left him behind. Now Kurt, our parents owned a smaller, lighter sailboat that could make good time. I know he caught up to the boat just as it began to sink. Your father pulled who he could from the water, but there weren’t many to save. Your mother wasn’t one of them.”

Suddenly his mouth felt like it was filled with cotton. “What was she doing out there?”

“To hell if I know.” His uncle scrubbed a hand over his face. “That’s all I know, Kurt. What I just told you. Your dad called for an ambulance when he realized what had happened, then he came home to you and shut himself in his old room. He wouldn’t talk to anyone. No even our mother. The next morning when Mildred and I got up for school he was gone. He’d taken you in the middle of the night, left everything behind, and was just gone. We didn’t even know if you two were okay for years after that. You just vanished.

“Oh.”

Fingers pinching the bridge of his nose, the man said, “I’ll never forget the look on his face, Kurt, when we went to see him at the hospital after the accident. Never. Or the sound of him crying over her. They were having problems, but she was the love of his life.”

Kurt thought that was something they shared. He’d heard his father cry before. Late at night when the man thought no one could hear him. His father had been haunted by his past, traumatized by it even, and it hadn’t faded over the years. His father had only gotten better at hiding it. 

Kurt wondered, “What happened after? After my dad left. Here.”

“That,” his uncle said with a sigh, “is when the storm truly started.” He clapped Kurt on the back and said, “You shouldn’t talk about the accident with other people. Leave it in the past. Let it stay there. You’ll only get speculation from most, the truth is so far gone and I’m not certain anyone really remembers it.”

But his uncle had said there were survivors so he had to ask about them. He had to know, “Who survived?”

His uncle appeared to be in deep thought, before deciding to answer, “I didn’t know them personally, but there was a brother and sister who survived. I think they were friends of the Fabrays. I don’t know what ever happened to them. But your father pulled Daniel Freedman out of the water that night, he was one of your mother’s best friends. And another boy, Dale Anderson’s younger brother. But he died shortly after that from an unrelated medical issue.”

Anderson. He wondered if that was Blaine’s father. How many Andersons were there in the town? “Blaine’s father. Dale Anderson?”

His uncle gave a sharp nod. “Yes. Younger by a year. Went everywhere with his brother.”

“What if I …” Could he talk to Blaine Anderson’s mother then? Would it be proper? Would she even know anything? He wasn’t sure where this urge to find out what exactly had happened to his mother had come from, but it was there, gnawing away at him. Unwilling to leave him alone. 

It must have been so clear on his face, but his uncle said sharply. “Don’t even think about it. The Anderson family lost two sons that night, Kurt. If not for Blaine, their whole family legacy would have been gone. No one in the Anderson family will talk about it. They all struggled to adjust, and you’re certainly not going to help anyone by bringing it up with the boy or his mother.”

“I know.” He felt so guilty. “But what about the other? Daniel?”

“He won’t talk.” Kurt’s uncle was so certain. “He hasn’t said a word since the accident. Literally. It’s been fifteen years, and he hasn’t made so much as a sound. I guess some things are just … too difficult.”

Kurt was beginning to regret his inquiry.

“But come on,” his uncle urged. “I know you have to be hungry, and I really do have something to show you.”

Five minutes later Kurt had a steaming cup of coffee in his hands and a piece of toast in front of him. His uncle had been gone for a few moments, but was back quickly enough with a piece of paper in his hands that Kurt actually recognized. 

“So,” his uncle said, almost a little bashfully, “I found this yesterday when you went to bed. I wasn’t snooping through your things, it was just laying out.”

“I know.” Kurt took another drink of his coffee. “It’s the list I made after taking another look at the truck. Once I get my first paycheck from the café I’m going to get those things and get the truck back on the road. Then I won’t have to bum rides off you and my new friends.”

Kurt reached for the list, but his uncle held it back, stating, “I was thinking, I could pick these things up for you at the local auto shop. I’m no car expert like you, but your dad showed me a thing or two. I’m not sure where he got it from. Our dad barely knew where the gas tank was.”

“I can’t let you do that.” Kurt wanted to reach for it the list again. “That list isn’t major, but it’s at least a hundred dollars worth of touchup paint and items. I can’t let you.”

Kurt was seated at the island bar in the kitchen, and his uncle slid onto the stool next to him with a serious expression. “When I brought you home from the hospital, after your accident in the marina, you told me something that really bothered me. Granted, you were on a pretty strong sedative, but I don’t doubt that you meant what you said.”

“I don’t remember,” Kurt told him honestly, finally taking the paper back.

“You said,” his uncle shared, “that you didn’t want me to spend money on you. You said you wanted to pay your own way. And I told you, but I don’t think you heard me, that you are family. And family means you don’t have to pay your own way. Family takes care of each other and doesn’t want or expect anything in return. I can get this for you, Kurt, because I have money to spare, and because I know it’s important for you to have the independence that a car gives you. So I’m going to do this for you, and you aren’t going to put up a fuss, and that’s that.”

“But--”

“No.” The older man wasn’t going to budge. “You are my nephew, and I don’t think you realize what you mean to me. You are the only thing I have left of my brother. You are so precious to me you don’t even know. And I want you to feel like this is your home, and that you have a place here. I will never take the place of your father. I would never try. But I want you to look at me and know that I will take care of you when you need it, and things between us aren’t favors. They’re just things that family does.”

Kurt was sure he surprised his uncle by the way he turned so suddenly, arms going around the man’s neck in a tight hug. He swore, “I am so thankful to you, Uncle Andy. And this will be my home. I’ll be able to think of this as home soon. I will.”

His uncle’s arms held him firmly. “Family is family, Kurt. And blood is blood. You’re mine, and I will always be there for you because of that.”

“Thank you,” Kurt told him fiercely. 

“You know,” his uncle said, finally releasing him, “I was angry at your father for a very long time. I told myself I hated him.”

Wide eyed, Kurt asked, “Why? Because he left?”

With a nod, the man said, “In part because of that. After all, your dad was my hero. My father was very hands off. I’m not saying he didn’t love us, but he wasn’t really there. It was Burt who helped me with my homework, and Burt who showed up at my school functions. Mom was always too busy, but Burt was there no matter what he had to sacrifice or had to give up. So when he left, it was a little like I lost everything.”

“Oh, Uncle Andy.”

“And then I was angry,” his uncle continued, “because he took you. I loved you a lot, right from the start, when you were a baby. I think I expected to be jealous of you getting so much of your dad’s attention, but I wasn’t, and I’d give up time with my friends to play with you instead. He left with you without warning, and I lost the both of you. I was angry he took you from me. I expected us to grow up and be good friends. We’re less than a decade apart in age.”

“I’m sorry,” Kurt said, feeling like he had to apologize for his father.

His uncle insisted, “It isn’t your fault. But the older I got, the more I realized what I was missing with you and Burt. Mildred doesn’t have any children, and I never had a relationship with someone I could see myself having kids with. My parents are gone, and I have a couple of cousins, but they’re all out East. The fact is, you’re all I have, Kurt, and I’ve already missed so much from your life.”

Knight came trotting down the stairs looking for breakfast and Kurt slid off the stool, heading for the dog mix his uncle had bought in anticipation of their arrival.

“He never talked about you,” Kurt said softly. “I used to think it was because you’d done something to him, but eventually, when I got old enough, I realized that it was because he loved you so much. He couldn’t go home. Something was stopping him from it, but he really wanted to. He missed you. He loved you. And talking about you was just too painful.” Kurt couldn’t help posing, “You could have come out to Ohio. You could have come to be with us. Just because dad couldn’t come home, didn’t mean you couldn’t come to us.”

“No way.” His uncle looked around, at the walls and decoration and the only home he’d ever known. “Hummels are meant to stay here. We’re born and made here, and our blood is bound to the ocean.”

“I’m not sure I understand.”

He also didn’t understand when the man said, “I’m not surprised. Your father took you very far away.”

“Uncle Andy?”

“Enough about that,” his uncle announced. “What do we say? The past is in the past. We have the future now. You’re here, and even though the circumstances are terrible, we’re going to make the best of it. So let’s get you to school, and you have work after, right?”

Kurt nodded. “They’re going to give me Wednesdays and Thursdays off, so I can work on the truck tomorrow and have it ready to go by Thursday.”

“You enjoying your work?” His uncle was bundling up for the weather outside and Kurt hurried to put his mug in the sink. “I know the Smythe family. The whole lot of them can be difficult.”

Kurt huffed a little. “Sebastian is. Hot and cold, Uncle Andy. Sometimes I don’t think he likes me at all, and other times he likes me too much.”

“Oh, he likes you,” his uncle promised. “It would be possible for him not to.”

Kurt didn’t know if his uncle just thought he was naturally personable, or something else.

“Uncle,” he said, biting his tongue for a second after that. “You ever get the feeling that there’s something … wrong with this town? Or maybe not wrong, but just odd? It’s like there’s something in the water.”

With a farewell to Knight, Kurt and his uncle were out the door a short while later, and into the man’s car. 

“It’s an old town,” the man offered by way of explanation. “I think all old towns feel a bit odd to people who aren’t used to them.”

“It’s more,” Kurt argued as he slid into the car. “There’s something weird going on here.”

“Maybe you’re sensing the history,” his uncle suggested. “There is a lot of it here. Good and bad. That kind of history carries an energy, all sorts It can make things seem very strange if you’re not raised feeling like it’s normal. You’ll get used to it, Kurt. I promise.”

On that matter Kurt decided to say nothing more. He was certain it wasn’t just an old town feeling that was seeping into his bones. Something else was going on, and it mirrored the things that had been happening to him before he’d even come to Washington.

“I’ll get those things on the list for you,” his uncle promised when he dropped him off. “Today, on my lunch break.”

Kurt swung his bag over his shoulder and said emphatically, “Thank you so much, Uncle Andy.”

“You going to be okay getting home on your own again?”

Kurt nodded. “No problem.” He watched his uncle exit the parking lot just as Quinn caught his eye, pulling into a parking spot. She gave him a wave and mouthed at him to wait for her.

“What do you have there?” Kurt asked when Quinn exited her car with a medium sized box in her hand and a strap around her neck.

“Here, hold this.” She foisted the box on Kurt and he could see that the strap was attached to an expensive looking camera. “It’s my yearbook committee things.”

“You’re on the year book committee?” Kurt tried to peek under the box.

Her head bobbed “Photography is pretty much my hobby. We don’t have a photography club at school, so yearbook committee was as close as I could get. I’m going to be taking some pictures of the classes today. That’s why I have to lug all this stuff around.”

“You have to?” Kurt asked pointedly, looking from her and then back down to the box he was holding.

Quinn gave a laugh and took the box back. “Alright. I’ve got it. Oh, and I wanted to ask you if you had any extra curricular actives yet. Because let me tell you, yearbook is a great one to have. Hint.”

“You just want to have someone to carry your boxes around for you. Plus, I’ve already signed up for band. I’m pretty sure the teacher, Mr. Doyle, is absolutely mad, but he’s been promising me concerts and performances, so I think I’m going to be tied up with that for a while.”

Quinn understood. “I just thought I’d try. But how about next year? You’ll be a junior next year, and you’ll have more flexibility in your schedule. When you’re an upperclassmen you can take yearbook as an elective. It’s a whole semester elective.”

He couldn’t make her any promises, but he did say, “How about I think about it over the summer? I want to make sure my grades keep up here, and if I think I can handle that and band, I’m in. Sound fair?”

She leaned over and kissed his cheek and his whole body tingled. “Thanks.”

It was later than Kurt had anticipated, and while he and Quinn were still in the parking lot, the warning bell rang. There were only a few, precious minutes left for Kurt to get to his locker across campus, and then back to his first period class. He left Quinn with a near run.

He might have made it on time, but his locker absolutely hated him. No matter how many times he put in the right combination, the thing seemed jammed. As the final bell rang, signaling the start of class, he was still held up at his locker, unable to get it open or get to the books he couldn’t go to class without. 

“Come on,” he demanded pulling and rattling the lock. He entered the combination again and got nothing. “Stupid lock.” He let out a frustrate huff.

He had half a mind to kick the locker until it opened. Or kick it until he felt better. Whichever came first.

“You’re making me late,” he growled again. He did kick it then, though not nearly as hard as he could have. “Open,” putting in the combination for what felt like the millionth time. “Open!”

The locker door nearly took him out as it flew off the hinges and smashed into the bank of lockers behind him. As it was, the action sent Kurt spinning to his floor, breathing hard with eyes so wide there was a hint of pain.

“Are you okay?” a quiet voice asked.

Blaine offered a hand down to Kurt, but Kurt was hesitant to reach up and take it. He was sure Blaine had seen everything. And the teen had to be terrified of him. Kurt was beginning to grow even more scared of himself. Whatever was happening to him, he couldn’t control it.

“Kurt?”

Slowly Kurt raised his own hand, and let it slip into Blaine’s. “Yes. I mean, I’m okay.” As he gripped Blaine’s hand, the lockers around them began to rattle, like they might open, or would have, if they hadn’t been locked. The hallway, however, remained blissfully empty, despite the crash. 

“That’s good.”

“What’s going on?” Kurt asked, feeling a little faint. 

Blaine was deceptively strong as he hoisted Kurt up. As he did so, he told Kurt, “Don’t look so horrified. You’re not the first to lose control.”

“The first?”

Blaine took him to a locker a little further down, one of many that had stilled since Kurt had begun to calm down. “You’re just letting your emotions get the better of you. You have to feel something for it to work, but you have to be careful, too. That why we have a rule. Never with anger. Never with jealousy. Never with any kind of emotion that could hurt someone.”

Kurt let out a long breath. “This thing that’s happening to me … it can be … controlled?”

“To a degree,” Blaine said with a grin. “Here. I’ll show you.”

Still holding Kurt’s hand he stopped them directly in front of a still locker, and then gave a quick look down the hall to make sure they were alone and not being watched.

“What’re we doing?” Kurt whispered.

“Concentrate on the lock,” Blaine told him. “All you want to do is open the lock. You don’t want to damage property, and it’s not about using as much force as you can. You just want the lock to unlock, so that’s what we’re going to say. Lock unlock.”

Kurt’s eyes narrowed. “Are you serious?”

Blaine squeezed his hand. “Come on. Do it.”

He felt utterly stupid now, but at least it was better than feeling scared. So he gave Blaine one last look, then turned to the lock and repeated, “Lock unlock.” 

They repeated it together after that, and barely half a second past before there was a click and the locker was open.

Kurt took a sudden step back in surprise, his hand dropping from Blaine’s. “What the hell was that?”

Blaine reached forward to push the locker back into place, clicking it closed. “You really want to know?”

He didn’t. He really didn’t. He just wanted to be normal. There were only a few things Kurt wanted, like to be successful in school, and tune up his father’s old truck, and maybe make some new friends. He didn’t want to be a freak, or be able to do unexplainable things. So he didn’t want to know. He wanted it all to go away.

But something told him none of that was possible. He might have known from the moment he was attacked in his father’s auto shop, or from the way he’d felt when Sebastian had touched him, or even his volatile encounter with Rachel. He wanted to be normal, but he wasn’t. And if he couldn’t be, and wasn’t, then the least he could do was find out why.

“Yes.”

“Are you sure?”

Kurt squared his shoulders. “Yes. I am.”

“Then,” Blaine posed, “after school?”

The screech of shoes on the waxed school floor brought their attention to Rachel who was lurking just around the corner, watching them but thankfully keeping her distance. But Kurt could tell, she wanted to be right there with them. She looked like she was about to burst at the seams with something to say.

“I have work after school,” Kurt said. And he couldn’t skip. He had a thing about responsibility, aside from how he needed the money. 

“Oh yeah, I forgot. With Sebastian.” He crossed his arms in thought. “And Rachel and I have glee. Hmm.”

“I’m free Wednesday,” Kurt offered, wondering if that would be too late. “And what does this have to do with any of them?”

Surprised, Blaine said, “This is bigger than any one person, Kurt. You’ll understand when we explain everything. And Wednesday is great.”

“What is god’s name happened here?”

Both Kurt and Blaine turned to see that Rachel was gone, and in her place was a man in a tweed suit, likely a teacher.

Kurt made to say something, but then Blaine cut in, “I don’t know, Mr. Roberts. Kurt and I were just running a little late today. He needed to get a few books before class and we found his locker like this. We don’t have a clue what could have happened. Kurt’s new. There’s no way this could have been a deliberate act of vandalism.”

The teacher took in the situation again, then agreed, “Most likely something random.” His tension let out. “Very well, Blaine. I believe you’re late for class. Go ahead, and if your teacher questions your tardiness, let her know that I’ve excused you.”

Blaine gave Kurt a parting look and then scurried off.

“Mr. Hummel, is it?”

“Ah, yes?” Kurt made his way back to his locker, thankful to see that none of the contents inside were damaged. And neither was there much in there. He could easily put everything into his backpack for the day and hope for a new locker soon.

When Kurt turned back the man was nearly upon him, stone faced with a receding hairline. “I knew your mother.”

That was odd. Whenever people came up to him, recognizing his last name, they always said they knew his father. They always offered their condolences for his father. His mother was almost never mentioned.

“You did, sir?”

“I did.” The man’s nose turned up. “And I know what she did.”

“Sir?”

“She took from me.”

Kurt felt breathless as the man moved into his personal space, forcing Kurt to back up against the open locker. He was starting to get that feeing again. The dread in the pit of his stomach that told him he was in danger, or that something bad was near. It was the same unease he’d felt the night of his father’s death, and the hour before when   
Fischer had attacked him in his father’s office.

“I know what you are,” the man said, voice stale as death. “And I know--”

“Kurt?”

Kurt shuddered a little at the sound once more of Blaine’s voice. 

“Anderson,” the man growled out. “I thought I told you to--”

“Come on Kurt,” Blaine said, somehow slipping between them and pulling Kurt away. “Our classes are right next to each other. We’re going to be late.”

It wasn’t until they were two hallways away before Kurt felt his heart begin to return to normal. 

“Who was he?” Kurt asked, fingers curled into his bag strap. 

“Timothy Roberts.” Blaine looped his arm through Kurt’s. “He’s the school guidance councilor, if you can believe it. And he’s … bad news. Stay away from him, Kurt. He’s not what he seems. And he has a personal vendetta against you.”

Kurt gave a dry laugh. “He doesn’t even know me.”

“But he knew your mother,” Blaine provided. “And he’ll take the hate that he feels for her over my Uncle Archer, out on you.”

Kurt was only confused. “Your uncle? I don’t understand.”

“I’ll tell you about him later,” Blaine promised. “But for now, please, stay away from him. Alright, Kurt? He blames your mother for my Uncle Archer dying. He loved my uncle.”

Wordlessly, Kurt nodded. And then he realized, Archer had to be Dale Anderson’s younger brother. Archer Anderson had been out there on the boat the day of the accident. Kurt’s uncle had said he’d survived, but then had died afterwards. Kurt wanted to bring that up, but he thought of how it might make Blaine feel, and wisely kept quite.

“Rachel will keep an eye on him today,” Blaine told him. “She’ll keep him away from you, at least until we can get you caught up.”

Kurt held him up with an arm. “This is … big, right? Whatever we’re going to talk about, it’s going to be insane. Right?”

Blaine gave him a dazzling smile. “You just blew a locker door across the hallway, and then you unlocked another with a thought and a couple of words. I think that’s a pretty big clue. What about what happened with Rachel the other day? That was just once instance. I imagine there are other things that have happened.”

Kurt admitted lowly, “I get this feeling under my skin when I’m around Sebastian. Is that one of these things too? I kind of get it around Quinn, too, but different.”

“You get it around Sebastian?” There was a tightness to Blaine’s voice that reminded Kurt that Quinn had said Blaine liked Sebastian. Quinn had implied that Blaine had been following him around for years, trying to make something of the two of them. And now he sounded a little … well, it was hard to tell, but there was something there, lacing in his words. 

Carefully, Kurt continued, “It’s a feeling of … power.” It wasn’t unlike the feeling he got just before something happened. “I don’t know how to describe it. A tingling under my skin. A feeling in my hands. A dizziness. It’s all of those things and more. But it’s a good feeling, even if I don’t know what it is.”

They walked the distance to Kurt’s classroom quickly, and it wasn’t until they were near the door that Blaine said, “Sebastian is special too.”

“Maybe not the good kind,” Kurt joked, thinking of the teen’s inappropriate comments and mood swings.

There was a light blush to Blaine’s features. “No. He’s special, Kurt. And I get it. I know. He’s rough on the edges, but we all are in our own way. There’s a lot to make of him, if you take the time.”

“Sounds like you really like him.”

The flush deepened. 

Kurt asked, “But Quinn told me that he’s not the dating type.” What she’d really said, without actually saying as much, was that Sebastian was the type for cheap thrills and quick exits. Yes, Kurt knew there was something impossibly strong drawing him to the boy, but he wasn’t stupid. He wasn’t going to set out to get his heart broken, and he certainly wasn’t interested in trying to make it work with someone who couldn’t be committed to him.

“He’s not,” Blaine agreed. “But I still …”

“Then keep trying.” This was what friends did. And since moving away from Ohio, Kurt had missed it. He’d missed having advice and supporting people he considered friends. He hoped that’s what he and Blaine were now. “Don’t let him get away. Keep trying.”

Blaine shrugged. “Maybe I will. I think this is your stop.”

Kurt reached for the handle and then told Blaine sincerely, “Thank you. For helping me with that man. For the locker too. For everything.” Maybe the most for the answers that Kurt knew he would be able to give.

He realized, to the questions Quinn had said he hadn’t know to ask.

“Are there others?” he asked suddenly, catching Blaine off guard. “People who can do what we can do.” There had to be lots of them, too. Because Blaine had been able to do something amazing, and Rachel hadn’t been scared when she’d seen. Plus, there was the way Sebastian had gotten into the car to save him, against logic and reasoning, and the way Quinn was always talking to him like she thought he was supposed to know something already. Maybe they weren’t all special … different, but they knew.

“More than you think.”

“Then this town …”

“I’ll explain everything tomorrow,” Blaine promised, calling over his shoulder. “Until then, just let things be.”

Kurt took a moment, then he waited until Blaine was long gone and decided that was what he was going to do. Lay low. Not let anything else happen, to the best of his abilities, of course. And just bide his time.

So he went on about his business like everything was normal. His morning classes flew by, and at lunch he sat with Jesse and Dave and Santana and didn’t look for a second over at Blaine. Blaine, who was sitting with Rachel and who kept sending him comforting looks.

Neither did he say anything to Quinn during their class period. Even when they were released from class to go to the library and begin work on a research project. He kept their conversation light, distracting her by asking questions about the yearbook, and even posing for a couple of pictures.

Music was more challenging. Kurt wasn’t sure how things were going to go between himself and Sebastian, but the teen greeted him with a salacious look, an open comment about how great his ass looked, and an invitation to make out in the back of his car before their shift at the café.

“Dream on,” Kurt told him, buzzing with happiness suddenly as Sebastian brushed up against him. 

“Any time you want to admit your undying love to me,” the taller teen said. “I’ve got all the time in the world.” 

Things seemed like they were going to go okay after that.

“So look,” Sebastian said, “I have something to show you.” Sebastian led him from the practice space that the music teacher had given them apart from everyone else and down to a part of the school that Kurt hadn’t been in yet.

“Where’re we going?” Kurt asked.

“Don’t slow down.” Sebastian reached back for him, grabbed his hand, and said, “You have to be able to keep up, Hummel. Or I’m going to leave you in the dust.”

Kurt pulled ahead at that. He didn’t have a clue where was going, but he refused to let Sebastian have a single upper hand against him. “Who’s keeping up with whom?”

“Feisty,” Sebastian laughed. “You know that turns me on.”

Kurt rolled his eyes. “I also know you’ve probably slept with more people at this school than I have fingers. So you can keep that idea right where it belongs. That’s in the trash, if you didn’t know. I don’t plan to contract anything in the near future.”

When there was no angry retort, Kurt looked back to him, almost startled to see the look of hurt that was creased on Sebastian’s features.

“Sebastian?”

The hurt was gone almost before Kurt registered it, and the teen said, “Don’t look like you’ve crushed my feelings.” Sebastian’s hand dropped free and he waltzed past Kurt. “Like I said, you’re just a pretty face. I’ve never lied to you. I’m only looking for a good time, and I’m not ashamed of that. Of course neither is it any of your business how often I enjoy myself, or with who. So stop acting like I’m going to go home and cry into my pillow.”

“I’m sorry,” Kurt said anyway, and he meant it. “I don’t know you that well, and I should be more careful with what I say. Or how carelessly I say things.”

“I’m not--”

“I’m sorry,” he repeated. “I truly mean that.”

Sebastian held his gaze for a moment, then said, “I’m utterly offended.”

“I know,” Kurt bemoaned. “I’m suck a jerk. Please forgive me.”

“Because I do not have any venereal diseases. I am clean.” He winked at Kurt. “Keep that in mind the next time I suggest you come over for some after hours action.”

Kurt held a sharp finger out and pointed down the hall. “More walking and far less talking, if you please.”

Sebastian only smirked.

A few doors down Sebastian nearly pushed him into an empty classroom and announced, “This is the room that glee club uses.” He sighed a little dramatically. “They use it after school, but it’s really kind of pointless, because they’re a bunch of losers and they never even make it past sectionals.”

Sebastian was talking, but all Kurt could see was the piano across the room, perfect and beautiful and very likely in tune.

“Anyway,” Sebastian continued, “I was thinking we could use this piano instead. The classroom, too. It’s got great acoustics in here and everything is already set up for the accompaniment that the glee club uses.”

Kurt made a beeline for the piano, questioning, “And the classroom is going to be free for us to use at this time every day?”

“Yep.” Sebastian looked thrilled with himself. “Just you and me, baby.”

Kurt sat gingerly on the bench and ran a thrilled hand over the exposed keys. He touched them almost reverently.

“It won’t break, you know.” Sebastian leaned on the piano next to him.

“No.” Kurt tapped a key experimentally. “But this is someone’s baby.” He looked up at Sebastian. “Would you let just anyone handle your violin?” He answered for him, “No, you wouldn’t. And whoever did, you would want to be exceedingly careful. Our instruments are extensions of ourselves. We love them and take care of them. This is, for all intents and purposes, someone’s child. I want to be respectful.”

“Piano guy,” Sebastian said with a nod. “Never says a word. I’ve seen him at some of the school productions. Especially when they did the sound of music last year. This one is his.”

Slowly Kurt walked his fingers up the keys, testing out his favorite scales. “Sounds good.”

“Sounds like you might have been telling the truth when you said you could play.”

Kurt wanted to snort. “Of course I was telling the truth.” He clarified, “I’ve got no natural talent for it, though. That’s a regret. If I want to play well, I have to practice, not like you. I can tell from the way you play, it’s all organic. I just steal techniques and tricks from various instructors. I produce an artificial sound.”

With a gentle nudge, Sebastian moved him so that there was room enough for two people on the bench. “Doesn’t sound artificial to me.”

“Maybe I’m just good at covering it up.”

He played slowly at first, warming his fingers up, getting used to the piano. It had been months since he’d sat at his own bench in his old house, practicing for the sake of practice, and barely putting his heart into it. But that piano had burned down with the house, and with his father. There was nothing left, and he’d half expected his love of the instrument to have burned with it. 

“You’re playing Tchaikovsky,” Sebastian remarked quietly. “But very poorly.”

Kurt paused, cleared his head, and then said, “Once more then.” And he put himself into it.

The period was half the way gone by the time he stopped, his fingers aching from such sudden and lengthy usage, and unable to remember the rest of the piece he hadn’t bothered to learn right the first time. “That’s all I’ve got,” Kurt said a little bashfully. “But with practice I’ll do better.”

Sebastian’s own fingers rested up on the keys. “I tried to learn once. Before the violin.”

“But it didn’t take?”

Sebastian shook his head.

As Sebastian tapped at the keys, Kurt reached over to help his finger placement and reminded, “My father moved us around a lot when I was young. We never stayed in one place for very long. Three months here, six there, and sometimes a year if I was lucky. I made friends, and then lost them, but there was never any stability in my life. Besides him, my father, of course. So I took the piano as a surrogate. No matter where I moved, somewhere there was a piano. That’s how I started playing. And I think because my father mentioned that my mother played, and I was desperate to have something in common with her. He never said two words about her, so when I learned that, I obsessed with it.”

Slowly, with Kurt’s help, Sebastian found a rhythm in the keys, and when Kurt set to his own, Sebastian remarked joyously, “It’s Chopsticks!”

“Everyone should know how to play that on the piano,” Kurt laughed. “And it’s better with two. Even if it’s one hand from you, and one hand from me. My mother taught my father to play that on the piano on their first date. That’s why I love it so much.”

The piano made an ungodly sound as Sebastian’s hand faltered and it slipped away. Sebastian stilled, and then so did Kurt, waiting for an explanation.

“I learned violin for my mother,” Sebastian said, chin pressed down to chest. “Because my father took her to the symphony in Seattle to propose to her three months after they graduated from high school. I leaned to keep his memory alive, but all I do is make her cry when I play. She never comes to any of my concerts. And she tried to throw my violin into the water once, when she was having a bad day.”

“So then,” Kurt supposed, “we’re not that different after all.” He reached for Sebastian’s hand and brought it back up to the keys. “And I know it’s hard. But the trick is just to keep going. To keep playing. And eventually, you come through at the end.”

Sebastian asked him wryly, “Is this inspirational talk number fourteen?”

“It’s personal experience.” Kurt started the simple melody back up slowly. “One that I think you already know, but it never hurts to be reminded of these things.”

Sebastian cleared his throat, joining in on the piano with Kurt. “Tomorrow I’ll bring my violin and we can start on our sheet music.”

Kurt made a hum of approval. Sebastian only knew so much of the tune, and Kurt hadn’t taught him more than the beginning, but he found if Sebastian kept steady, he could add on and build to the sound. He could expand and Sebastian could keep them grounded and musically they could be in perfect harmony.

“Do you think about him a lot?”

“Who?” Sebastian asked. 

“Your father.” Kurt’s head tilted towards him. “I try not to think of my mother. It’s hard to love someone you don’t remember, and really never knew. And I don’t want to think about the fact that I really don’t love her. I love the idea of her, and the memory of who she was, but not her. It’s hard.”

Sebastian looked at him strangely, but his fingers continued on.

“What?” Kurt’s head cocked further. “That was really depressing, right?”

“No. No.” Sebastian seemed to stutter a little on his words. “I just … no one’s ever said that to me. They’ve never said exactly what I feel.”

Kurt’s eyebrows perked in relief. 

“Sucks, right?” Sebastian asked. He did stop playing then, and ball his hands in his lap. “A lot.”

“Did you know about the accident? About the boat sinking?”

“Some.” Sebastian said oddly. “But not a lot. Nothing really, now that I think about it. Just that there was a boat and it sank and people drowned. Once in a while my mother will get completely wasted a talk about it a little, but it never makes any sense. She doesn’t have any answers. Just a lot of guilt.”

“Guilt?”

“Because she was supposed to be there. That’s what she says, at least. Your mother and my mother never got along very well, I think for obvious reasons. Namely your father. But my mom thinks she was supposed to be there, and whatever they were doing your mom asked for her, but she didn’t go. Probably just to smite her. Anyway, my father went instead. And then the boat sank and he drowned and she always felt like it should have been her. I guess it’s part survivor’s guilt.”

“My mom asked for her?” Kurt frowned. “For what? What were they doing out there? Everyone says it was a party, but this doesn’t sound like a bunch of people getting together for a party.”

A little nasally, Sebastian said, “It wasn’t for a party. I can tell you that much.”

Kurt braced himself against the piano a little and told Sebastian honestly, “I didn’t even know it was a boating accident until recently. I just knew she died in an accident. I always assumed it was a car accident. I didn’t know anything until Quinn told me what she could. No one told me anything, especially my father. But I can tell you this, he never wanted to come back here. He never would have wanted me here. And it’s starting to make sense why. Everything is still unclear, but something really bad happened here, and it was something he never wanted to face. Or wanted me to.”

“You don’t think he ever would have brought you here?” Something hitched in Sebastian’s voice. 

“No,” Kurt said certainly. 

Sebastian was thinking it. Kurt could see it as plain as day. Sebastian was glad his father was dead. But he didn’t mean it in a malicious way. Or a hurtful one. There was shared sympathy and real pity hidden on his face. He was sorry for Kurt’s loss. But also glad.

“Sometimes,” Kurt said, “it feels like I was destined to be here. Like everything was leading up to me coming here. Because I could have gone somewhere else. I had people who wanted me to stay with them in Ohio. And even a cousin out East who said I was more than welcome to go stay with her. But I chose Uncle Andy. I came to stay with him because something deep down in my gut told me it was the right place to be.”

“And do you regret it now?” A grin forced its way onto Sebastian’s ace. “I mean, not meeting me, of course. I’m who you’ve been waiting for your whole life. How did you get on without me?”

“I try not to regret things.” Kurt closed the lid to the keys. “Regret is worthless.”

“You didn’t answer my question.”

The door to the room opened with a snap and Kurt looked over to see a pale, curly haired man looking at them with a confused glance.

“Mr. Schue,” Sebastian greeted. “This is Kurt Hummel. He’s new. We’re in band together, and he plays piano. The one we’ve got is completely out of tune and we were told we could use this piano, as long as we keep out of your way.”

The man paused for a moment, taking in the words, then assured them, “Yes, yes, of course you can. I was just coming in early to get things ready for the solo competition we’re having today. Speaking of, it’s not too late for you to join, Sebastian. You’ve got a great voice.”

Kurt smothered a laugh and looked away when Sebastian shaped an awful look at him.

“No thanks,” the teen said, “but I’ve got enough on my plate right now. It’s lacrosse season. In a few weeks.”

“We were just going,” Kurt said, gathering up his bags. “We promise not to be in your way.” 

“Right,” Sebastian agreed, and rushed from the room.

Kurt held his composure until they were out in the hallway, and then laughter burst out of him, and he questioned, “You can sing?”

“Better than you,” Sebastian barked out angrily. “At least I don’t sound like I’m still waiting to hit puberty.”

“Please,” Kurt returned with a ridiculous look. “You mock my voice but I probably have twice the range you do, and manage with half the effort you need to muster up. You probably look like a gaping fish when you’re singing, so I really wouldn’t mock anyone if I were you.”

Anger held on Sebastian’s face for a moment, then a smile broke through. “I do not look like a fish, darling.” He hollowed out his cheeks in a playful way. “But I’ll have you know I have great suction--”

“Okay, we’re done now.” The smile on Sebastian’s face spread and Kurt couldn’t help mirroring it and asking, “You can sing? So why don’t you join glee?”

“Lacrosse?” Sebastian reminded. “I was captain of the junior team last year. I’m going out for varsity this time around. I’ll be the first sophomore to make the team.”

“If you make it.”

“When I make it.” Sebastian let his shoulder knock against Kurt’s. “But making varsity means I’ve got to be there for every practice. Glee and lacrosse meet at the same time, and only one of them is going to get me a scholarship.” He told Kurt seriously, “Lacrosse is the big sport here. Everyone turns up for the games. Everyone.” Sebastian said it in such a pointed way that it sounded like he expected Kurt to be there.

“Oh. I suppose that makes sense.”

“Plus,” the boy added, “I’d never join a club the Rachel Berry was in. When Mr. Schue says he’s holding solo auditions, he really just means he placating the rest of the club who are too stupid to notice that Rachel bullies her way into getting every lead that is available. And I’m not stupid. I don’t want Rachel crawling up me every time I so much as hint that I want to be lead. Or even duet with her. That fine position of bitch goes to her boyfriend, Blaine.”

Kurt made a face. “They’re dating?” Quinn had said otherwise.

“Not really.” Sebastian nodded his head that they should start back towards the music room. “They’re just best friends. Blaine is completely gay. And Rachel is … opportunistic. I think she’s more interested in the kind of person who could compliment her, and not so much the gender. But they’re closer than any married couple I’ve ever seen, so they might as well be dating. They have all the duets in Glee, go to all of our dances together, and probably get their periods at the same time. It’s disgusting, really.”

Kurt remembered that Blaine had a crush on Sebastian, and couldn’t help asking, “Then you’d never consider Blaine?”

“As what?” Sebastian snorted. “A boyfriend?” An ugly sneer twisted on his face. “Don’t get it wrong, Kurt. I like to have a good time, but I’m not looking for a boyfriend. I don’t want one. I’m not a one man kind of guy. And I especially don’t have any interest in the kind of boys who probably have diaries and wear bowties to school and are completely pathetic in their pining for people who’d never want them back.”

“That is really harsh.” He hurt for Blaine, and the words that had just been spoken.

“The truth sucks,” Sebastian said plainly. “And contrary to what Blaine might think, I’m not just waiting for the right boy to come around and reform me. I don’t want to change and I don’t want someone who wants to change me.”

“You’re lonely.”

Sebastian slowed. “What?”

“You’re lonely,” Kurt said, completely sure. “This front, whatever it is, it’s something you’ve put together to protect yourself. But from what, I don’t have a clue. Regardless, it makes you lonely, and that makes you bitchy. Because that’s what you’re being. A bitch.”

“You know someone for two days and suddenly you have them figured out?”

“With anyone else I’d say no,” Kurt said. But he felt like he knew Sebastian. He felt like he knew the truth deep inside himself without understanding why.

They were near the music room when Sebastian asked sharply, “You coming with Blaine tomorrow? To find those answers?”

“You’re going to be there?”

“I’ll be there.” Sebastian pushed on the door. “And maybe then you’ll find out if you’re right about me.” Those weren’t the answers Kurt wanted, but he found himself hoping for them all the same. And that was just confusing.


	5. Truth

When he woke up on Wednesday it was before the sun was up. Knight was still sleeping, curled into his side and warmth, and Kurt didn’t have the heart to move and wake him. And truth be told, he was in no hurry to get out bed. Today, he knew, everything changed. He’d finally know the truth about himself, and what he’d been doing. Nothing would ever be the same. It was frightful.

He rolled to his side a little and sighed. “No matter what,” he promised himself, short nails scratching along Knight’s fur, “I won’t let the truth change me.”

Kurt was very near to dozing off when there was a heavy thunk that sounded through his dark bedroom and startled him. He shot up in bed, sending Knight yelping to the floor, and Kurt heaved in deep breaths of terror.

He looked instinctively to the window he’d closed the night before, hoping that something had acted up again, whatever was the matter with him, and maybe it had opened in the night to create a breeze. But it was still shut, and the room was still toasty warm from the electric fireplace. 

“Okay,” he mumbled to himself. “You’re not six. Go check it out.”

He slid out of bed as fast as he could and scurried across the room to the main light switch. He hated how hard he was breathing when the ceiling like came on, illuminating the room and proving that Kurt was alone with only a single dog for company.

He surveyed the room, looking for something out of place. But the bed was normal. Nothing had been moved from atop the dresser or his desk. The door to the bathroom was still closed, along with his closet door, and the selves around the room with his father’s personal belongings were exactly as they’d been when he’d gone to bed the night before. There was nothing that Kurt could see to account for the heavy sound.

At least until he caught the bookshelf with the corner of his eye. With the way the shelf was angled away, fitted into the wall in a way that nearly hid it all together, he might have missed the heavy dictionary on the ground. 

“Dictionary,” he repeated, walking swiftly to it as Knight padded over quietly. Kurt lugged the big book up and couldn’t for the life of him understand how it had fallen off the shelf.

He made to put the book back in, and then paused. The backing of the shelf, the part that was meant to be hidden by rows of books, seemed a little distended. Immediately curious he pulled at the other books, stacking them nearby, and exposing the back paneling for what it was.

“Ingenious,” he remarked aloud, then reached his fingers to the edge and popped it off, revealing a whole secret compartment. “So very clever.” It had to be his father’s work. His uncle had said no one had had the room before his father, or after.

With only a tad bit of hesitation, and the light of the room not proving enough to show Kurt what was down in the passage way, he plunged his hand in. What he retrieved was a photograph, old and worn, but still splashed with color and glossy when the dust was brushed off. It gave him pause until he realized he was looking down at a picture of the past. A glimpse into something he never would have known under any other circumstance.

His father, with a more youthful face and a lot more hair was standing at the center of the photograph, posed with a confident grin on his face and his arm around a beautiful brunette. The two of them had eyes only for each other, despite the numerous other people in the picture, and the whole of them were standing out at what looked to be a dock.

His mother. Kurt realized. His father was holding his mother.

He had never seen a picture of her before, and it didn’t strike him at ridiculous until that very moment. But he hadn’t. His father had described her, and given excuses as to why there were no pictures, but until this very moment, he’d never seen her. But Kurt would have known her face anywhere. He had his father’s build, with powerful legs and broad shoulders, but his mother’s face. He could see himself in her features, and he could feel in his heart that it was her.

He barely wanted to blink to miss her.

But eventually he drew his gaze to the other people in the picture, some tall and some short, some thin and some heavier. Blonds and brunets and people who were pale and freckled and tan and grinning. None of them seemed to have anything in common with each other, except Kurt imagined these were his father’s friends. Probably his best with the way they were all draped over each other, ignorant of personal space and overly friendly with each other.

There were pairs of girls and boys kissing, and two boys kissing, and girls holding hands with each other and so much love to beheld in one simple photograph that it made Kurt grin stupidly.

This, he knew, was what he should have grown up with. He should have had a mother and a father, and had the same bonds of friendship with his friends that his parents did with their friends. He should have been raised in Washington, and if he had, maybe he’d know what was happening to him. Maybe his father would be able to tell him, and even if he hadn’t, the man would have been able to support him. To make him less scared.

Kurt held the photograph until Knight began to whine at his feet. “Look.” Kurt turned the photo to him. “That’s dad, and this lady right here? She’s my mom. These are their friends. This was probably taken before I was born, or maybe right after. They’re teenagers.” He wanted to keep the picture. He wanted to save it forever. He’d ask his uncle if there was a spare frame he could have.

It was almost painful to part with the photo, even to place it over on his desk for safe keeping. But he was curious to see if there was anything else hidden back there.

There was something else. There was what looked to be a silver charm bracelet. The links were beautiful, and there were dangling, tiny stars from the chain. Stars that made Kurt look up to his father’s ceiling, to where there were glow in the dark stars that helped lull him to sleep at night. The bracelet was feminine and delicate and if Kurt had to guess, he’d say it belonged to his mother, and not to his father.

But why had it been hidden? Why had the picture been hidden for that matter, too? Those didn’t seem like things that deserved to be hidden.

He’d almost thought there was nothing left in the hidden spot after a few more minutes of searching, but then, up on his toes, his fingers brushed the edge of something. Then they brushed again, and he was even more determined. 

It was a book. But maybe that didn’t seem accurate. Because it was wrapped in worn, frayed leather, and held in place by a long string. There were edges of sharp paper poking out the side, and when Kurt handled it, it felt like the weight of the world was contained inside. It was no ordinary book, more like a journal, and because of that, Kurt hesitated to open it. Journals were very private.

Eventually his curiosity got the best of him and he unraveled the string, creaking the book open as gently as he could manage. The pages were covered, often from top to bottom, in a sprawling cursive script. At least for the first three quarters of the book. But the handwriting, while always maintaining its flow and style, seemed to change every thirty or so pages. Though skimming through it Kurt could see longer breaks of handwriting changes, and then shorter ones.

There were pictures of flowers and herbs sketched in, diagrams of things Kurt couldn’t understand, and poetry. There were lineage charts, maps, and directions. And then towards the back there seemed to be a story, written like fiction, and in his father’s heavy, chunky lettering. It was the only handwriting out of place.

It hit him then. This was his father’s book. And his father had written in it.

Footsteps padding along the hallway had Kurt snapping the book closed in an instant. He dove for the nearby bracelet and ended up knocking his desk chair over, nearly hitting the dog in the process.

“Kurt?”

Kurt nearly jumped for his bed, stuffing the items under his pillow and doing his best to look like he’d only been up for a short while as his uncle gave a warning knock to the door and then poked his head in.

“Morning,” Kurt greeted, trying to calm his racing heart.

“I thought I heard something.” His uncle’s hair was sticking up and his face was still creased with sleep lines. 

“My chair.” Kurt pointed. “Knight knocked it over.”

His uncle gave a shrug and went to pick it up, freezing as he spotted the picture on the desk. Kurt could have throttled himself for his carelessness.

“Where’d you get this?” the older man asked, voice shaking a bit. “I haven’t seen this in a decade and a half. Maybe a little longer.”

“Oh, uh,” Kurt tried to sound nonchalant, “I was looking for something to read last night. That was stuck between some of the books. It’s my parents?” He wanted to be sure.

“Burt and Elizabeth,” his uncle confirmed. “And their friends. The lot of them, they were thick as thieves. They went everywhere together, though their group wasn’t always this big. It started with six, and just kind of ballooned to this size by the time they were in high school. They used to hang out down at the docks every day after school. I always tried to worm my way in there. Look, you can see me here, hiding behind Jody’s legs.”

Kurt crawled from the bed and made his way to his uncle’s side, looking once more at his mother’s face. “She was beautiful.” Then he laughed, because he could see a small, shaggy haired kid hiding behind a tall girl’s legs. “That was you?”

“I told you,” his uncle beamed, “I hero worshiped your father. Where he went, I usually followed. But I was lucky, most of the time he was okay with it.”

“And the rest of his friends didn’t care?”

“Nah.” His uncle handed the picture over fully to Kurt. “Your father was the lynchpin of his group. He set the rules for the most part, and they either got in line, or found a different place to be. I mean, I’m not saying your father was a dictator, but he was the trendsetter, and if he said it was okay for me to hang out, then it was. And you’re right.”

Kurt looked up from the picture. “Right? About what?”

“Your mother.” his uncle tapped the picture and headed back to the door. “She was breathtaking in how beautiful she was. She was easily the most wanted girl in your dad’s graduating class. Probably the whole school. She was also strong willed and independent and very smart. There was something attractive about that to everyone, in addition to her beauty. I couldn’t blame your dad for going for her the first second she showed an interest in him. But I did feel sorry for Evangeline.”

Based on what he already knew, Kurt hazarded a guess, “Smythe? Sebastian’s mom?” They’d been a couple, he recalled. Before his mother had stolen his father away. Though stolen sounded so bad. You couldn’t really blame someone for falling out of love with one person and in love with another. Not really.

“Yep. Evangeline Smythe. She was gorgeous too. She and Burt were a power couple if I ever saw one. But she never even saw your mother coming, not until it was too late. Evangeline was a sweet girl, but she couldn’t hold a candle to Elizabeth. No one could.”

“Do you mind if I keep this?” Kurt asked about the photo. “And if so, do you have a frame I could use?”

“It’s yours.” His uncle pulled open Kurt’s door. “And actually, I might have a couple more photos of your parents around here somewhere. Your mother hated getting her picture taking, but your dad managed it once in a while.” He added, “Let me see if I can hunt down a frame for you later on.”

When his uncle was gone, and the door shut behind him, Kurt left the picture sitting back on his desk and reached for the book under his pillow. He didn’t open it again, not with the chance that his uncle could be back, and instead he wrapped the chord around it once more. He placed the book back in its hiding place, and stacked the dictionary in front of it with the others.

But the bracelet he held in his hand. He let it weigh his fingers down as it draped over them, and he couldn’t bear to part with it. Not with the thought that it was his mother’s. He had never owned anything of hers before and it felt precious.

He wanted to wear it.

No one even had to know. He’d wear sleeves, and it was cold outside, so he’d even have a jacket on.

All he knew was that it was his mother’s and he wanted to be closer to her. It seemed a godsend that he could do it by wearing something of hers that his father had thought important enough to save and protect.

So he did. He slid the cold silver against the soft skin of his wrist and when it settled he felt powerful. 

“I won’t be home right after school,” Kurt told his uncle at breakfast.

The man was nearly inhaling his coffee, but he stopped long enough to ask, “I thought you didn’t work on Wednesdays or Thursdays. I did get the things you wrote down for the truck.”

Kurt thanked him right away, and promised, “I’m going to get the truck in perfect running order later tonight. I should be able to drive myself to school tomorrow. But I promised some friends that I’d meet them after school. I think we’re just going to hang out.” He supposed that’s what they were. Friends. 

“Friends,” his uncle asked, clearly pleased. “That’s great.”

“I do know how to make them.”

“Okay, okay. Sorry,” his uncle laughed. “I know. I’m just happy for you.”

Under the heaviness of his jacket, Kurt could feel the bracelet pressing against his skin. It felt like a wonderful secret.

“I’m happy too.” And for the first time since his father died, he really meant it.

Things at school were normal. Before the first bell rang Kurt chatted with Dave about the possibility of learning how to sail, and then the rest of his classes flew by. He gave a presentation with Jesse, continued working on his project with Quinn, and even started going over sheet music with Sebastian.

Everything pointed to absolutely nothing special happening that day.

Then the final bell rang and Sebastian said, “You’re getting a ride from Blaine, right?”

“I’ve been strongly advised against ever getting in your car,” Kurt reminded. 

“By who?” Sebastian demanded.

Kurt told him superfluously, “Just about everyone. And yes. I am.”

The teen told him simply, “Meet you there,” and then disappeared off down the hallway with a saunter in his step. 

Blaine met him in the parking lot looking anxious, but also excited. He laughed at Kurt and said, “You look like I’m taking you to your execution.” 

“I’ve gotten that feeling twice already,” Kurt tried to joke. Then, when he was standing close enough not to be overheard, he asked, “Why can’t you just tell me now?” Because the wait felt horrible, and the pressure was building. 

Blaine led Kurt to his car, a vintage looking beetle painted bright yellow. As if he could have driven anything else. “It’ll be better to show you, too. Plus, I am a little worried you’re not going to take it as well as some of the others. It’ll be better if there isn’t anywhere for you to run.”

“Now you’re starting to sound like a serial killer. You’re really not helping calm my nerves.” He slid into Blaine’s car anyway. “And what do you mean by the others?”

The car started up with a slight shake and Blaine said easily. “There are six of us. A circle is always six. Well, there’s six now. Five without you. And I can’t really explain it in a moving car. But Kurt, you’re not the first to go through this. Being told. You’re just the first who didn’t really have a hint as to what was going to be said.”

Kurt swallowed at the lump in his throat. “When I get angry or upset or scared things happen. Unless you’re going to tell me I’m the son of the devil, then I’m not really sure--”

“People have called us that before,” Blaine said a little merrily. “Don’t pay them any mind.”

Kurt held his bag to his chest and wondered where they were going.

“It’s right there,” Blaine said after they’d driven for a while and came up over a curved road. “See it in the distance?” He pointed and when Kurt followed his finger he could see a tall lighthouse, pale against the water behind it. 

“We’re going to a lighthouse?” he asked. “Can we do that?” It didn’t seem like a place you could waltz into. 

“You can if you’re me.” The way Blaine said it didn’t sound smug, and he explained, “About a hundred years ago this lighthouse was pretty much the only thing keeping the ships who came to port here from crashing into the rocks. It was built and maintained by the Anderson family, that’s my family, and it’s probably what propelled my family to prominence back then. Of course we don’t completely rely on it today, but it does still function, and we do still keep it running. It’s kind of like a tradition in my family, to pass down the responsibility through the generations. Last year it was my turn.”

Kurt guessed, “So you come out here and make sure it’s working?”

“Among other things. There is a bit more to it. But basically, it’s my responsibility, which means no one else comes out here, and that in turn makes this the perfect meeting spot. Our group can come up here any time we want, I’ll get you a key made, and we don’t have to worry about being bothered.”

“Cool,” Kurt said, distracted by the landmark.

There was a tiny parking lot at the base of the lighthouse, with no more than six spots, most of which were filled. Blaine snagged the second to last and turned the car off. He shifted in his seat towards Kurt and said, “I know you’re scared, but you don’t have to be. You think no one understand you, but there are some.”

“I just want to know,” Kurt told him.

“Okay then,” Blaine said, and got out. “Oh, but one last thing. Rachel is going to be here.”

Kurt gave him a sullen look.

“I know, I know,” Blaine sighed, “she can be a bit much. And she’s going to come at you, which is why I’m warning you ahead of time. But she doesn’t mean harm. And the truth is, she needs you a lot more than you need her. Don’t forget that and don’t let her boss you around.”

“Why are you telling me that?” Kurt asked as they made their way to the entrance, past a memorial to the site. “Isn’t she supposed to be your best friend.”

“She is,” Blaine assured, “and I’m not saying anything to be mean. Rachel can get a little overwhelming, and I just want you to know and be prepared, especially considering what we’re going to talk about today.”

Kurt huffed, “My ESP.”

“It’s not ESP.” Blaine pulled open the heavy door. “But that would be cool if it was.”

They had to walk a long stretch of circular stairs that held Kurt’s attention completely. He’d never been in a lighthouse before. There were no lighthouses in Ohio, or any of the other places he’d lived before, and the inside was absolutely baffling in how interesting it was. He kept one hand firmly on the railing as he looked at the pictures lining the walk, frames of people and places and history.

“It’s just a little further,” Blaine promised, and eventually they did reach the first landing. It was only a short climb up onto solid ground from there and then Kurt was standing in a fairly large size single room that was decked out in couches and warm colored rugs and comfortable looking chairs. There were bookcases lining the walls, and a tiny looking garden of potted plants in the corner. Further back he could see stairs leading up even further, but the people in the room caught his attention next, and he stopped dead in his tracks.

He’d expected to see Rachel. Blaine had said as much. And even Sebastian and Quinn. But certainly not the punk looking kid who had one leg throw hastily up on a footstool as he tapped a rhythm out on his thigh in boredom. Not the same boy who lived across from him.

“You,” Kurt accused, ignoring everyone else. “You’re the boy who’s always looking at me through my window.”

The tan boy smirked but made no effort to move. “That’s me. It’s nice to have something to look at besides your uncle. But you shouldn’t be such a prude and wear that robe all the time before you go to bed. And you can call me Puck.”

Sebastian let out a laugh and Kurt looked to him, stating, “I’m really not surprised the two of you are friends.” Then he told his neighbor, “You go by Puck? Really? My uncle says your name is Noah. Noah Puckerman. That’s certainly what you’ll get from me.”

Noah shrugged.

A pitchy voice cleared, and then Rachel came barging up to him, demanding to know, “Is it true you don’t know anything? Your father didn’t tell you anything?” She looked to Blaine. “I really don’t think I can believe a Hummel wouldn’t know anything.”

Sebastian crossed the room to sit on the edge of a nearby sofa and said, “Don’t act like your dad told you anything, Berry.”

“Of course not. He was only worried for me. That’s why he never said anything.” Her nose turned up. “But I discovered things just fine on my own. We all did.”

Quinn offered Kurt a kind look and moved to place a comforting hand on his shoulder. “We had the luxury of growing up here, Rachel. And of being in closer proximity to each other than Kurt was to any of us. We had luck on our side. And I believe you’ve gone on enough family vacations at this point to know what happens to you when you’re away from us for too long.”

“I just think,” Rachel began.

Kurt interrupted a little snappishly, “Will someone just tell me what’s going on? What’s happening? What’s the truth? Tell me or I’m going to go.” He had half a mind to start running right away.

“You’re different,” Noah said flatly. “You make shit happen. Crazy shit.”

“I’ve seen it,” Blaine said softly. “Rachel has. And Sebastian--”

With a frown, Kurt asked, “You can all do things too?” When nods came from them, he asked, Sebastian, “Is that how you got me out of the car when it went into the bay?”

Sebastian looked reluctant for a moment. “I blew out the window.”

“What,” Kurt said, feeling a little hysterical, “with your mind?”

“No. I helped.” Quinn squeezed his shoulder reassuringly. “I was there, remember. So were Rachel and Blaine. When we’re together, everything we’re able to do magnifies. He probably could have done it on his own, especially with you in danger, but we helped.”

Something passed between Quinn and Sebastian, almost a whole conversation that Kurt couldn’t begin to follow. But neither seemed pleased with the other. 

Weakly, Blaine held up a hand. “Which, about that, Kurt. Sorry. Rachel and I are sorry. We didn’t mean for that to happen.”

They’d caused it? It didn’t seem possible. “Excuse me?”

Rachel didn’t look the least bit sorry when she said, “You were already supposed to know who you were. And I thought you were just lying, because you couldn’t trust us yet. I only wanted to make sure you were up to par. How was I supposed to know?”

“You nearly drowned him,” Sebastian snapped.

“But you were there to save him!”

The anxiety, the panic and all of the worry that had been building since things had first started happening, all bust exploded in Kurt. He had to lean forward to brace his hands on his knees in order to keep his breathing even as he demanded, “Someone tell me what’s going on. Or I am gone.”

“Kurt, just calm down,” Quinn urged.

“No.” He straightened up. “I am not going to calm down, because something is happening that I can’t explain, and I’m too afraid to tell anyone. Things that shouldn’t be possible, like lights exploding and mirrors cracking and lockers breaking, those things are happening, and that’s insane. It’s even more insane that you’re basically telling me you guys can do these things too, and you’re not worried or scared at all.”

“We’ve known for years,” Noah said, still looking like he could barely be bothered with Kurt. “It’s not a big deal anymore.”

“Maybe not for you.” Kurt shrugged Quinn’s hand off. “But you’re not the one who got attacked by someone who could do these things too. You’re not the one who saw how easy it is to hurt someone, or how--”

Sebastian nearly lunged at him, demanding, “Someone attacked you? When?”

Kurt was lost for a moment, startled by Sebastian and the intensity of his gaze. He was barely able to muster up enough courage in light of his situation to say, “Back in Ohio. I was … I was working late at my dad’s shop. This guy had a car that needed to be fix. I took him back into the office when we were alone and everything seemed okay at first.”

Kurt wasn’t sure how it happened, but somehow Quinn ended up being replaced at his side, and instead of her offering comfort, Sebastian was there, their fingers barely brushing and the teen so close that Kurt could smell his aftershave.

“Did he hurt you?” Sebastian asked, voice low.

“He …” Kurt took a breath to steady himself. “He grabbed me, and I couldn’t move. I don’t mean in the way that you can’t move when you’re scared. I mean that I literally couldn’t move. It wasn’t possible. I knew it was because of him. And that he wanted to hurt me.” He shook his head at the memory. “He would have killed me, but then things started exploding and there was this pressure in the room, horrible pressure that made it hard to breathe, and I fell on the ground. By the time I got up he was gone.”

Sebastian seemed to breathe a sigh of relief.

“My father died that night,” Kurt finished.

The room was still and quiet.

It seemed only Blaine had the courage to speak up and tell Kurt, “That was you that night, Kurt. When you felt that man was going to hurt you, you reacted in self defense. That was your power saving your life. Just like it’s been your power every time you’ve broken something here, or done something unexpected.”

“Power?”

Sebastian’s fingers finally slid between his, and immediately Kurt felt stronger. He felt like he could take on the world.

“Oh, come on!” Rachel burst in between them all, sending Sebastian staggering to the side, losing his grip on Kurt, and Blaine nearly pin wheeling away. When she stood toe to toe with him, she said plainly, “You can do all of these things because you’re a witch. You were born a witch, your parents were witches, and it’s in your blood. It’s who you are and it’s the reasonable explanation for everything that’s been happening.”

There were no words to say. All he could do was look from person to person in the room, all of whom looked like they were hesitant to meet his gaze, but not that they thought Rachel’s words were anything but the truth.

“We …” Blaine tried, “we wanted to break it to him a little bit more smoothly, Rachel.”

She said, “If you’d tried any longer we would have been here forever.”

“Kurt?” Quinn asked. “Are you okay?”

He was not okay. He was certainly not okay. He was surrounded by a bunch of crazies, and he told them all as much. He said, “You’re all absolutely crazy!” And if he hadn’t been so shocked he might have bolted already. “There’s no such thing as witches!” 

“You’re looking at one,” Noah offered. He gave an awkward flash of his wrist and a number of books across the room came tumbling down, catching the edge of a potted plant and smashing everything to the ground. Noah winced. “Still working on it.”

“Great,” Quinn snapped at him.

“You …” Kurt wasn’t sure what to say. It was the first time he’d seen someone do something other than himself. 

“We can all do it,” Blaine told him, moving back to his side and pushing Rachel gently away. “Ever sine we were kids, though it was rare back them. The real deal started kicking in around puberty. So, a couple of a years ago, that’s when it really picked up. Rachel and I were the first to notice, and then we found Quinn, and Sebastian, and Puck last. We’re sure there are others, but they’re not who we’re looking for. We’ve been waiting for you.”

He had to sit. He had to sit right away or his legs were going to bow out from under him. 

“Careful,” Quinn said as she helped him down onto a nearby loveseat. “Just take a few deep breaths and let out whatever you need to.”

He kept replaying in his mind what he’d seen Noah do, and the possibility of Rachel telling the truth. But there were still some things that didn’t make sense. So he mentioned, “I haven’t always been able to do this. Never as a child. Never as a teen, either. Not until that night when that man attacked me, and never until I got here.”

“Proximity,” Quinn reminded. “We’re a circle of witches. It means that our power is linked, and we’re stronger the closer we are. You were too far away as a child to access anything you had, and even when you came into your inheritance during puberty. You were able to defend yourself from attack because the power that you have as a witch is ingrained in you. It’s in your blood and bones and it’ll work even if you don’t know how to use it, if it means saving your life. Things started to happen when you were here, because we’re here too.”

“And I’m supposed to just believe that I belong with you? Why? Because you say so?”

“No.” Sebastian shook his head with confidence. “Because circle members are born knowing each other. You don’t choose your circle, the circle chooses you. We can all sense each other, just like you can sense us. It’s why you’ve been drawn to us, either through curiosity or friendship, or other ways. You’ve gotten close to us because you know you’re supposed to be with us. A circle always starts with six. You’re our sixth, and none of this would be scary or surprising to you if you’d grown up here. If your dad hadn’t taken you away.”

Kurt felt angry. “Are you trying to blame this on my father?”

“Our parents were witches,” Quinn said quickly. “They’ve tried to hide it from us, for whatever reason, but they were. And they knew we’d be the same way. They also knew we’d have a circle, the same as them. Your father had to know what he was doing when the took you away. I’m sorry, Kurt. I’m not saying he was a bad man. Just wrong. He broke our circle before it could form properly, and he left you exposed. He could have put you in a lot of danger without realizing it, and he did leave us vulnerable here. A circle is always vulnerable until it’s bound.”

“My father,” Kurt said, rounding on her sharply, “took me and ran because something scared him. He lost my mother and he was scared to lose me. That’s why he took me and left. He was trying to do the right thing.”

The idea settled on him then. If they were to be believed, his father was a witch. Or had been. His whole bloodline was witch blood. He wasn’t saying he believed anyone about anything, but if there was even a chance that it was true …

“Just look at this,” Rachel said, and she had in her hand an old, worn looking book that so closely resembled Kurt’s that he might have thought she’d stolen it. “This is how we know what we know. It’s called a Book of Shadows. Every family has one. This is my family’s, and when we looked inside we could see that all of our families were linked together through blood and marriage and witchcraft. Even if we hadn’t been able to feel it, we would have known you were one of us from the book.”

A little shakily, Kurt got back up to his feet so he could be eye level with her. “What’s in the book? Just things about our bloodlines?”

“No.” Rachel said boastfully, “There are thousands of spells. Some of which we’ve been practicing, and some of which are too advanced for a broken circle. But now that you’re here, we can try them!”

Kurt thumbed back at Noah. “I can see it’s been going to well for you.”

“That’s because he’s an idiot,” Sebastian said. “And he thinks saying the words sounds stupid.”

At Kurt’s confused face, Blaine reminded from the other day, “Remember when we opened that locker together? When you tried it on your own, you blew it off its hinges. When we tried it together we had our combined magic and the link between us to help settle things down. Then we said the words. Words aren’t necessary, not in a pinch, but it’s hard for us to control what we want to happen without them. The words focus us into a single action, and nine times out of ten it beats waving our wrists around like we’re Harry Potter rejects.”

Noah’s middle finger flew up proudly into the air.

Blaine ignored him and told Kurt, “I’m not saying things don’t still go wrong. Accidents happen. We’re young and we’re powerful. But there’s a way to fix that. There’s a way to help us control what happens and where. If we did it, you wouldn’t have to worry about accidentally blasting off a locker because you couldn’t get it to open. You’d be less scared.”

“I’d be less scared?” That was something Kurt was certain wasn’t possible. “Look, I get that you need me. I agree, we do weird stuff, and maybe, just maybe, you’re telling me the truth. But nothing is going to make me less scared.” He thought for a moment, then said, “Being a witch is in the blood, right? My father might be dead, and my mother, but my uncle is still alive. I’m going to ask him.”

Kurt started for the door but was caught firmly by Sebastian who leaned down in the slightest to tell him, “We can’t let you do that. Your uncle could tell our parents, and we can’t let that happen.”

“Why not?” Kurt demanded.

“They can’t know.” Sebastian seemed to be pleading with him, at least in the only way he knew how. “They might try to stop us, or do something. If they had wanted us to know, they would have told us. Because they didn’t, I think it’s safe to say that either they don’t trust us with this power, or they don’t want us to have it. But it’s ours. It’s our right to have it by our birth, and we don’t want anyone to have any control over it but us.”

Kurt tried to pull free. “Then I won’t tell anyone. But you all are still crazy, and I’m leaving now.”

“Kurt,” Quinn called after him as he struggled away from Sebastian. “I know this isn’t what you wanted to hear. But it is the truth, and you can feel it. You can feel the connection to us, and the connection to the truth when you hear it. We’re your circle. We would never let anything bad--”

Kurt broke free at that moment, and nearly tripping over his feet, he descended the stairs as fast as he could. His hand almost burned from how hard he kept a grip on the railing and slid it along to keep his balance. 

He burst out of the lighthouse a minute later and out onto the grassy lawn surrounding the building. He took deep breaths and ran a hand over his face. 

“Kurt!”

The door to the lighthouse slammed again and Kurt had expected it to be Blaine who came out after him, or Rachel. Maybe even Quinn. Certainly not Sebastian.

“Just wait!” The boy called to Kurt and jogged to his side. “Don’t run.”

“Don’t run?” Kurt demanded. “You and your friends bring me up to a deserted lighthouse to tell me that not only am I a witch, but my father was, and my whole family, apparently. And now you just expect me to fall in line, because my name is in some girl’s family book, and you don’t think I’m going to run?”

Sebastian stilled. “Well, I guess you could. That’s true. No one is trying to force you to do anything you don’t want to. But don’t think for once second that you’re not desperate for this to be the truth so you finally have a reason to stop looking for why these things are happening to you. Don’t even try it. Because I was exactly the same as you. And I did run. And it messed me up inside for a long time until I could face the truth. I’m only trying to stop you from making the same mistakes I did.”

“But witches?” Kurt turned a little, hands in his hair. “That’s ludicrous. Ridiculous. Crazy.”

“Sometimes the truth is.”

“And my father being a witch? That’s even more unbelievable.”

Sebastian dared to inch forward a bit, moving closer. “There’s no way he wasn’t. The Hummel blood has been producing witches in this area for hundreds of years. And I’ve read Rachel’s book from cover to cover. I don’t trust that midget any further than I can throw her, but there is magic in the pages of her book, and magic doesn’t lie. Our parents probably had a circle too. They were witches together in the way that we were, and it passed down to us. You just didn’t know because you didn’t have us from the beginning. And obviously your father hid everything from you.”

Kurt wanted to be able to say that his father wouldn’t have hidden something so important, but the truth was he knew he would have. His father had hidden just about everything. Kurt barely had enough information about the man, and his mother and their family to fill a single sheet of notebook paper.

“Then why can’t I just go talk to my Uncle Andy?” Kurt pressed. “He was my father’s brother. He’s got the same Hummel blood. He’s a witch too then, by your logic. He should be able to tell me something.”

“He won’t tell you anything,” Sebastian said definitively. “Because Blaine and Quinn and the others and I agree that what happened to our parents out on that boat that day, it happened because of witchcraft. Something went wrong and that’s why no one will speak of it. Listen, Kurt, just listen to me for a second. One of the last entries into Rachel’s family book talks about a big accident out on the water. And it says that it had serious ramifications for this witch community, big enough to bring the elders here. Now, we don’t know what those ramifications were, or what the elders did while they were here, but I think it’s safe to say they covered up whatever happened out there. We’re quiet about what we are for a reason, Kurt. It’s not safe to be a witch here. Not out in the open. So when I say that the group can’t let you tell your uncle, it’s really me saying that I won’t. Because I won’t risk you.”

Kurt let his hands fall from his hair and dangle at his side. His breath puffed out in front of him and he said, “Witchcraft killed my mother?”

“Maybe,” Sebastian shrugged. “We don’t know. But we do think our parents would make us stop practicing if they knew.”

“You’re going on the basis that you think I believe you. You wouldn’t be the first asshole to try and pull an elaborate prank on me.”

Sebastian looked unperturbed. “I can show you. I can prove it to you.”

“How?”

Sebastian held out a hand. “We’ll do something you want. You control it fully, so there’s no way I’m manipulating you or the situation.”

There was never any real chance he wouldn’t take Sebastian’s hand. It was as if he couldn’t avoid it. He needed to. He was meant to.

“Why do I feel this way?” Kurt asked quietly when his fingers were safely in Sebastian’s hold. “When we touch.”

Sebastian led them away from the lighthouse, through the dewy grass and towards the shore. “It’s the power between us. We each have our own, it’s what we’re born with in our blood. But there’s also the power that comes from being in the circle. This is me and you connecting.”

Kurt felt his face flush and hoped Sebastian couldn’t notice. “Our magic connecting?”

“Meshing. Melding. Whatever you want to call it. We’re stronger as a pair. That’s the purpose of the circle. We’ll always be stronger together. That will never change.” He brought them to a stop down near the beach, where their shoes were just starting to soak into the wet sand. “So. What do you want to do?”

“Be normal?” Kurt joked.

Sebastian made a face. “You were never going to be normal, sunshine. And you’ll never be that way again. Better start getting used to it. But there are worse things, you know, than not being normal.” He held a straight face for a moment, then laughed out, “You could be Rachel Berry.”

Kurt did his best not to laugh, then told Sebastian, “I’m not used to standing out. But since I’ve gotten here, everyone has been looking at me. Some of them knew my father. Others my mother. Everyone wants something from me, or wants to know me, or just wants to talk to me. But they’re all watching. I just want to be invisible for a little while. I don’t suppose you could swing that?”

“Maybe.” Sebastian thought for a second. “Give me your other hand.” Things seemed even stronger between them then. “And close your eyes.”

Kurt did so, trying to let go of the tension in his shoulders, or the burning urge in his chest to start running again. “Should we be mumbling some spell now?” he asked sarcastically. 

“It does help focus us,” Sebastian said tryingly. “You’ve seen what happens when we don’t have focus. So how about we try just a couple of words. You want to be invisible. So … sight unseen.”

Kurt cracked open an eye. “Really?”

Flatly, Sebastian said, “I’m pretty sure no matter what we say we’re going to look and sound stupid, so would you rather have a long ass poem to recite, or a couple of words?”

The wind was pushing up Sebastian’s hair, and Kurt wanted to reach up and fix it. Or maybe just touch him some more. All he knew was they were standing close, holding each other, and it was the best feeling in the world. “Sight unseen?”

“Go time,” Sebastian said, and then together they repeated the words several times in a row.

“How am I supposed to know if it worked?” Kurt asked, eyes still closed.

“You could look.”

When Kurt opened his eyes he could barely make out Sebastian in front of him. Instead he could only really see the fog that had rolled in around them. There’d been nothing when they’d first reached the beach, not even out in the distance. And Kurt had seen the weather report that morning, calling for cold temperatures but great visibility. There was no way the fog had come in so suddenly by any terms. But now it was enveloping them, hiding them and Kurt guessed, making them unseen.

“Hey, no!” Sebastian said when he felt Kurt’s grip on his hands loosen, “we’ll break the spell if you let go.”

Kurt held back tightly again. “This is incredible.”

“I know what you’re worried about.” Sebastian gave him a sad smile. “You think you could hurt someone with this. That you might not be able to control yourself, or that something bad could happen. You’ve been attacked. You’ve seen how someone can hurt someone else with magic. That’s really what you’re scared of. Not the being a witch part.”

“How could I not?” Kurt wondered. “It seems so easy.”

Truthfully, Sebastian said, “It is. That’s why we have rules. We don’t use our magic in ways that might hurt people. We don’t use it when we’re upset or angry. Those are terms we live by. They’re not foolproof, but it helps. And there is what Rachel was talking about. We can bind the circle. It binds us to you, and you to us. Forever. And it improves our control a thousand fold. Binding the circle can take that fear away, Kurt. But there’ll be no getting rid of us after that, so you need to think about it completely.”

Feeling a little numb, Kurt looked around. They were feet from the water, but he couldn’t see the waves, only hear them. “And my father could do this?”

“There’s no doubt.”

Magic, in some way, did make Kurt feel like his father was still there. It made him feel connected to the man once more, even as if he were still alive. The magic certainly felt alive. 

“It’s not evil? The magic?”

“No,” Sebastian laughed quietly, his nose brushing Kurt’s. “Magic is neither good nor evil. It depends on the user.”

When Kurt looked down he could see the fog swirling between his feet, passing around himself and Sebastian, and snaking up between them.

“I’ve never,” Sebastian said airily, “been able to do anything like this. You’re …”

They were so close. Kurt could do more than smell his aftershave. They was closer than just clothing brushing clothing. He felt nearly on top of Sebastian, or maybe consumed by him. 

“You’ve never tried with other circle members?” Kurt whispered is question, his mouth angled up at Sebastian’s.

“It’s never been like this. Never this powerful.”

They were going to kiss. Kurt could feel it, from the tightness of the way Sebastian held him, to the way he was beginning to lean down. The teen was going to kiss him while they were hidden by the power they shared. 

But Kurt had sudden thoughts of the way Sebastian had talked about other people as if they were mere game. And how Quinn had warned him that Sebastian had been working his way through the high school. He thought of Blaine who so desperately wanted to be noticed by Sebastian, and of how his father had sat him down once and told him how special he was, and how not to give himself away to anyone he wasn’t completely sure about. 

Kurt pulled away. He let his hands drop from Sebastian’s and a moment later the fog was gone, receding back into the ocean. It was as if it had never been there in the first place.

“Kurt?”

“I need to go,” Kurt told him, trying not to let the look of hurt on Sebastian’s face bother him. “I need to think.” He turned and tried to rush his way up the beach, calling back, “I swear I won’t tell anyone!”

Most of the cars were gone when he got back to the lighthouse. But Blaine’s was still there, and he was seated in it, bundled up in his coat and looking through a book.

“You waited.”

“Of course I waited.” Blaine got out of the car. “I knew you didn’t have a ride back, and I figured that you would come here eventually. Did you talk to Sebastian? He wasn’t my first choice, by the way. Of people to further explain things to you, but Quinn seemed to think he might do an okay job.”

“I ….” he didn’t want to say anything to Blaine about how he’d almost kissed Sebastian. “He told me some things. I need to think about it.”

They got back in the car and Blaine started it up, heat going up on high. “I saw the fog. It didn’t seem very natural.”

He didn’t pry, and for that Kurt was thankful. It was why he said, “I need a little time to think about this. But … if I do this, if I help you bind the circle, that’s what you called it right? If I do that, we’ll stand a much better chance of not hurting other people with what we can do?”

“Or hurting ourselves,” Blaine said. “But it’s a huge decision for you, and the last thing any of us wants is for you to make the wrong decision because you felt pressed for time. Think about it. Figure out what’s best for you. We’re not going anywhere.”

It was nearly dinner time by the time Blaine dropped him off at his house, and Kurt could tell by the great smell coming from the kitchen that his uncle had ordered in.

“Hey,” his uncle greeted. “Set the table, will you? You’ve got great timing.”

Kurt looked at him, and tried to imagine that his uncle was a witch. Or that his father might have been. But his uncle looked normal, and he’d never done anything out of the ordinary. He just couldn’t see it. And he’d promised not to ask. At least for the time being. 

“Kurt? You okay?”

Kurt set down a plate and said, “Yes. I’m fine. What did we get for dinner?”

His uncle grinned up at him. “Thai. You mentioned the other day you liked it. I found a place a town over that was willing to deliver.”

Kurt squeezed his wrist as the man passed. “You’re amazing, Uncle Andy.”

After dinner there was just enough sun left to dig out the garage flashlight and hook it above on the rafters. He wouldn’t get any actual work on the truck done until the next day, but he could at least get set up. And it took his mind of things.

“You look troubled,” his uncle said, bringing Kurt the toolbox from the shed out back. 

“It’s just been a long day.”

Kurt wondered if the days would start to feel less or more so as time passed. He wasn’t sure what had happened with Sebastian, or why his life was suddenly so out of control, but he did know that he hadn’t needed to tell Blaine he wanted time. If there was a chance to save people from getting hurt, he was willing to do it. The last thing he wanted to do was be out of control. He’d bind the circle. He already knew he would. There was no choice to be made.

“Maybe you should think about going to bed early,” his uncle suggested. “There isn’t much light left and this garage is going to hit a freezing temperature before long.”

“Okay.” With everything set up for the next day, Kurt followed his uncle back to the house and then up to his room. 

He played with Knight for a while, caught up on some homework and then settled into bed. It was then that he remembered the book he’d hidden under the pillow. He pulled it out and turned it over in his hands. Rachel had said each book contained a family history. And this, he knew, was his own. He wanted to open it right away and start reading. But he was tired and he did want to get up early the next morning.

He tucked the book back under his pillow and pulled his dog close. He’d had enough excitement for the day. Everything else could wait.


	6. Chapter 6

Maybe just for the sake of it, Kurt made sure to wait a few days. He didn’t want any of the circle to think he was taking the decision lightly, and he certainly didn’t want them to know that there really was no decision to make. But mostly he just wanted things to cool down a bit and to give everyone the time to settle into either option. 

Also, before he told Blaine anything, with Blaine being the sort of representative as far as Kurt could tell, despite how much Rachel squawked about it, Kurt had some questions for him. To his credit, Blaine was patient, and for every question he asked, there was a prompt and clear answer.

The first he asked was, “ What exactly happens to me as an individual if I agree to be a part of your circle?”

Blaine gave him a look. “It’s not as if you’ll start hearing our thoughts in your mind. But I’m not going to lie to you, if what I’ve read is correct, we will become more in tune with each other. We might, at least on a minimal scale, be able to sense each others emotions. We’ll probably instinctively know what the other needs. We will always be urged or compelled to be complimentary to each other. We’ll always want to be together, we’ll be pulled together, and the idea of the group will definitely take precedence over the individual.”

There were a few negatives to that, but for the most part, it didn’t sound that bad at all. So after that he asked, “If I do this, the blowing up of lights when I’m angry will stop?”

They were at the lighthouse when Kurt asked these questions, and it was the weekend, so most of the others were off doing things with their families or other friends. It made Kurt wonder why Blaine was hanging around the lighthouse then.

Instead of giving him an answer, Blaine asked back instead, “Do you know the purpose of the circle?”

Kurt was pretty confident as he said, “To give the circle, and witches within it, control.”

Blaine gave him an odd grin. “Close, but not quite right. It’s really, when you get down to it, to keep the circle in control.”

“Keep the circle in control?”

“Keep them in control,” Blaine repeated, then expanded, “because we’re witches, Kurt, and most witches come into most of their power at puberty. When they’re teenagers. That’s pretty dangerous. Teenagers aren’t exactly known for thinking things through and using good judgment. In fact you’ve proven that emotions get the best of us when it comes to our magic all the time. The same is for the rest of us, no matter how hard we try to keep a lid on it.”

Kurt sort of thought there ought to be an ethics code to being a witch, or rules of do’s and don’ts. Because Blaine was right. In the wrong hand magic could be a terrible way to hurt someone.

“And being a complete circle stops this from happening?”

“Not entirely,” Blaine said honestly. “It can still happen. But it makes it more difficult. Because a bound circle is about that circle, and not really about the individuals that make it up. Think of us like a bee hive in that way. When you bind a circle, you start to work towards better, more important things than petty selfishness. And that’s because our individual magic pretty much is inaccessible after a circle is bound.”

Kurt tried, “So, no blowing off my locker door because I’m mad it won’t open?”

Blaine shook his head. “If we bound the circle, in order to do magic, big or small, we’d have to be with each other. There would need to be more than one member of the circle participating. I think it’s to make sure that as many members of a circle as possible agree with the magic being done. It keeps us together and lets the other members keep us in check. I couldn’t just go off and use my powers to go rob a bank. For something like that, I’d need a couple other circle members, and chances are, most of them would disagree. Therefore, stalling my plans. It’s a failsafe, in my opinion. But it also builds unity and strength inside a circle, so that’s good, too.”

If he hadn’t been ready to agree already, that would have done it for Kurt. He hated the idea that he could get angry or upset, or mad, and have something with his magic happen. Hurt someone. What Blaine was offering him was a chance to make sure that never happened. There would be no accidental magic. Only the deliberate kind.

“Would you, the circle, want me to do things? Magical things?”

“We do like to practice what our talents are,” Blaine said with an arched eyebrow. “What’s the point of having magic if it you can’t use it and become good at it? But it’s not like we’ll be wanting you to help us rob that bank I was talking about. Mostly when we meet here we look through Rachel’s book and practice the things we find in there. Half the time we can’t even make them happen. We’d want you in for that. But nothing in her book is evil. The Berry line is very distinguished and old. It’s almost nauseatingly strict in the way the magic is used, if Rachel’s book is to be believed.”

At that Kurt had to ask, “I thought she had two dads? Are you sure she’s a Berry?”

Blaine laughed loudly and said, “That’s how Rachel figured out which one of them was her biological father. There’s only one of her parent’s names written down on the family tree in the back of her book. And there’s no magic on the other side, so it’s pretty clear which one she’s biologically related to. And that does happen, by the way. It’s pretty unusual, but it does.”

“What does?”

“Witches marrying non-witches. It happens, obviously, because you can’t help who you fall in love with. And there are normal people out there who can take it. But it is a little uncommon. Witches tend to marry other witches because they’ll understand the lifestyle. Also, there is something to be said about preserving a bloodline. Bloodlines, as you’ve gathered, are very important around here. They define families in this town.”

Kurt wandered to the corner of the room where the small garden was set up. There were tiny heat lamps shining down on some of the pots, and Kurt was no botanist, neither did he have much of a green thumb, but he could see the different varieties in from of him. And he did recognize sage, and thyme. He used them regularly when he’d cooked for his father.

“What would I have to do to bind the circle?”

“Sacrifice a virgin.”

When Kurt turned sharply to him he could see Blaine was bent over laughing. “Come on, Kurt. How many times do I have to tell you witchcraft is not evil. We’re not worshiping the devil here. We actually draw our power from the elements around us, so we’re as home grown with our magic as possible.”

“The question still stands.”

“We’d do it out in the woods,” Blaine said promptly. “And there isn’t much to it. All of the elements that we represent in the circle would need to be present, and then there are the ceremonial words, and we’ll be bound. There’s no virgin sacrificing, bloodletting, or dancing naked under the moonlight. I’m sorry all of those movies about witches have led you completely astray.”

“Very funny. I didn’t actually believe you on the sacrificing of virgins part.”

“Good.” Blaine beamed. “Any other questions?”

It wasn’t a question, so much as something he had to say. He had to tell Blaine, “I don’t want this to change me.”

“The circle doesn’t want to change you. That’s not what the circle is about. And it can’t change something you’ve always been, even if you’ve never known it.”

“And one last question.”

“Shoot.”

“Could binding the circle make either Sebastian or Noah less perverted?”

Blaine nearly launched himself over to Kurt with the biggest hug the shorter boy could muster. He was laughing and shaking with that laugher and telling Kurt how glad he was to have him.

“I think,” Kurt said stiffly, “that was a very valid question.”

So he ended up binding the circle. And it was like Blaine had promised, utterly painless and a little uneventful. He’d stood, cold and damp in the woods as it rained lightly, and did everything Blaine had instructed him and the others to do. He hadn’t felt any different for it afterwards, but he supposed that was a good thing.

Whether it was, the circle being bound or just very good intuition, the circle left him to his own devices for a few more days after that. No one said a word to him about magic, the circle itself, or anything aside from school or work related things. It was really nice, and exactly what he needed. He’d only ever wanted to be normal, and now it was like a weight off his shoulders that for the most part, he could at least pretend he was.

It was four days after the circle was bound, and a whole twenty-four since Kurt had even thought of anything magic related, when Kurt was on his way to the cafeteria to pick up his lunch. Dave seemed to appear out of nowhere and caught his arm in a firm but careful way.

“Dave?” Kurt asked. He was supposed to be meeting Quinn to help her go through some of the photos she’d taken already for the yearbook. He’d also promised her he’d look at her photography schedule to see if there was a way she could fit a couple of hours down at her mother’s boutique in, every couple of days.

“Kurt,” Dave said, “I’m just showing this new guy around. I’m trying to introduce him to some nice kids. Say hi for a second.”

There was, in fact, another boy with Dave, though he’d been hanging back a little. Still, Kurt could see him properly now. He was taller than Kurt, though not by a whole lot, and pale, and blond. He had a careful smile to his face, cautious in its form, but also hopeful, and Kurt greeted him right away, saying, “I’m Kurt Hummel. You and I are in the same boat. I just transferred in a couple of weeks ago.”

“Kurt,” the attractive teen said, and the way he looked at Kurt made him blush, “I wish you’d been the first person Dave had introduced me to. I’m Adam.”

“You’ve got an accent,” Kurt said, a little delighted. He’d never really met anyone who wasn’t from the States. There had been a Japanese exchange student once, when Kurt had lived in Michigan, but he’d been young then, not even out of middle school. And nothing since.

“Very perceptive.” He was charming. And there was something utterly devastating and wonderful about the perfect set of pearly white teeth he grinned at Kurt. “I’m an import, you could say. I’ve lived in London recently.”

“I would love to travel,” Kurt told him. “You have to tell me everything about living in England.” He caught himself, and said a little bashfully, “If it wouldn’t be completely boring to you. In fact I’m pretty sure I can’t have been the first person to come at you like this today.”

“No,” Adam told him easily enough. “But certainly the most charming. I’d love to tell you anything you want to know, if you’ll allow me to buy you lunch. I think that’s a fair deal.”

“Okay,” Dave whistled out, hands in his pockets. “I’m going to go. Adam, you remember where your next class is, right? Good. I’ll meet you at the end of that.”

Dave left in such a hurry that Kurt was a little distracted. At least until Adam came back into his line of sight, saying, “Lunch?”

Kurt was sure that Quinn would forgive him this one time. Especially after she saw the boy who’d stolen Kurt away from her for one lunch.

“It’s certainly different here,” Adam told him. They were camped out in Kurt’s recently repaired truck, new life breathed into the beast that he knew his father had driven as a teenager. They’d ended up in the truck only because there had been nowhere left to sit by the time they’d gotten their food. And because Kurt was kind of hoping to have Adam to himself for a while. The teen really was interesting. “But I’m not unfamiliar with America.”

Kurt noted, “You use some of our colloquialisms. And you’re familiar with the slang. I thought as much. Do you visit often?” Though obviously not often enough to thin his accent.

“My parents are divorced,” Adam explained easily enough “My father is British, and my mother is an American citizen. We all lived together in England when I was quite small, but as I’ve said, there was a divorce. My mother moved back to America, and my father stayed in England. They split custody. I spend my school months with my mother, and my vacations with my father.”

“I feel obnoxious,” Kurt admitted with a small laugh, “but you really are the most interesting person I’ve met in a while. How did you end up in Washington?”

“Ah,” Adam said, smiling again, “Recently I’ve acquired a new stepfather, a younger brother, and reluctantly, of course, a relocation away from California. No offense, but I much prefer the sunshine to this dreary weather.”

“I came from Ohio,” Kurt told him unabashed. “I miss the snow. I miss the way it felt when it fell, and sledding, and snow days. I even miss having to plow the driveway to get my car out of the garage.”

Adam turned in his seat towards Kurt. “Something tells me you didn’t come here of your own accord.”

“No.” Kurt’s hands stilled in his lap. “My … my father died. And my Uncle Andy was the closest blood relative. He’s my father’s brother. I wanted to be here, with him, if only to have a piece of my father with me still.”

Adam only hummed, but it was a comforting response. 

“But I’ll get used to it,” Kurt added. “There are already things happening here that I would never have expected. But they’re not so bad. Different, but not bad.”

Adam’s head dipped a little so he could see up through the top of Kurt’s windshield. He could see the banners promoting the upcoming fundraiser down at the harbor for the high school. “Everyone seems to be excited for that,” Adam remarked.

Kurt nodded, then said, “It’s to raise money for the senior class trip. Everyone participates, from what I’ve heard, regardless if they’re seniors or not. You’re supposed to pitch in especially if you’re not a senior, so that you know when you are, and it’s your turn, that someone will be there to raise the money for you, too. This town doesn’t exactly have a lot of money. It is a fishing community.”

“Are you going?” Adam asked, gaze sliding over to him. “Maybe with a girlfriend? Or a boyfriend?”

Kurt was stunned for a moment, then he said, “Ah. No.”

“Has no one caught your eye yet?”

“I haven’t really been looking,” Kurt was forced to say, which wasn’t really the truth. Because there was Sebastian. Whatever Sebastian was to him, or supposed to be to him. It was all too confusing. He only knew that he was attracted, sometimes at the worst of times, but that there was a wedge between them that he couldn’t figure out. A missing puzzle piece that Kurt couldn’t see and Sebastian didn’t care to help him with. “But I might go by myself. Just to support the seniors. And to get out down by the harbor. I really like the ocean. It makes me wonder how I went so long without seeing it.

“Well,” Adam eased out, and it was the most uncomfortable Kurt had seen him look thus far. Adam always looked impeccably confident when he spoke. “I’m quite new here, and I would like to show my support to the school I’ll be attending. So I believe I’ll be going. But from one new student to another, I think you can relate when I say it might be difficult going without knowing most of the people there. Therefore I propose that you and I go together.”

Kurt’s head turned. “As friends?”

Adam was quick to correct, “As a date.” He cleared his throat. “That is, of course, if you would do me the honor of allowing me to accompany you.”

Kurt couldn’t help the smile that broke on his face. “That accent really makes you sound like a prince. That and how you speak.”

“I don’t know,” Adam shrugged. “I think I much prefer the American, mid-western accent.”

Truth be told, Adam was horribly attractive. He was enticing and charming and all of the things that teenage boys weren’t really supposed to be. And Kurt wanted to accept right away. It was only the thought of Sebastian that held him back for a moment.

“I don’t mean to pressure you,” Adam assured him. 

“No. No.” Kurt shook his head. “I mean yes. I mean …” he steadied himself. “What I meant to say is that you aren’t pressuring me. And yes, I would love to go with you to the fundraiser.”

There wasn’t much, if any, time to talk after that. The bell rang and Kurt had to scramble to get out, telling Adam, “My next class is clear across campus.”

A little disappointed, Adam said, “Mine isn’t. I doubt we have any classes together. You’re a sophomore, right?” Adam was a senior, and while he did play French Horn (apparently at his father’s insistence) he hadn’t signed up for band, and had elected to take an art class in its place last period. “I certainly would have selected band if I had known you played.”

Kurt promised to see him the next day, but couldn’t stay for much longer, and hurried along while doing his best not to look back half a dozen times. 

The whole thing put Kurt in a great mood. And it lasted all the way through the day and into his last period where he and Sebastian were still trying to pick out the best music to compliment each of their styles.

With sheet music sprawled out around them, Kurt hummed a happy tune and Sebastian asked, “What’s got you in such a good mood? I told you not to daydream about me in class. Not when you can have the real thing any time you want.”

“Actually,” Kurt said, passing over Bach who was neither suited for a concert piece or a pairing with a single violin, “I met a new student today.”

“We seem to be getting a lot of those. Is he at least hot?”

“I didn’t say it was a guy.” Kurt barely paused to look at Sebastian. “But it is, and he’s very attractive. He’s from England. And we’re going to the fundraiser together.”

He could feel Sebastian still as he asked, “You’re going to the fundraiser with him? This guy, you don’t even know.”

Exasperated, Kurt said, “That’s the point of a date, Sebastian. To get to know other people.”

“Now it’s a date.”

“That’s what I said.” Kurt sighed loudly. “Why do you sound like you have a problem with it?”

“I just think it’s weird. Some kid shows up at a new school where he doesn’t know anyone and the first thing he does is try and hook up with you?”

“No,” Kurt corrected snobbishly, “the first thing he did was compliment me. Then he told me about himself, and opened up to me, and then very politely asked if I would accompany him to the fundraiser. He also was perfectly clear that he didn’t want to pressure me, and I was free to decline if I wanted to. That’s called being a gentleman, and not everyone wants to get into my pants. Not everyone is you.”

“I think he’s way more interested in getting you out of them.” Sebastian’s eyes lingered on Kurt’s rear, and Kurt could feel it. “Because he’s a guy, and all guys are the same. So don’t try and tell me that just because he put it all fancy, that he doesn’t want to same thing everyone else does.”

Angrily, Kurt snapped, “You never give anyone the benefit of the doubt.”

Sebastian returned, “And you give people way too much.”

Huffy, Kurt was sure to point out, “It really isn’t any of your business what I choose to do with my life, and that includes who I decide to go out on a date with.”

“And with that,” Sebastian said hotly, “you’re wrong. That changed the second we bound the circle. Because now I’m just as responsible for you and you are for me.”

“Well,” Kurt drooled, “I’m sorry to say that if I’d known that before, I might not have done it.”

“Very funny.”

Kurt pushed through some more sheet music and reminded, “You might be my circle now, but you’re not my father. You’re not my keeper and you’re not my warden. You don’t tell me what to do and I certainly don’t need your approval. I’m old enough to make my own choices and judge people myself for what I think their intentions are. So I say that Adam seems to have very good intentions, and I’m going to the fundraiser with him. I suggest you take that knowledge and deal with it, because nothing is changing. And stop acting like a jealous boyfriend.”

Indignantly Sebastian protested, “I am not!”

“Or you’re acting threatened,” Kurt corrected. “Because maybe you’ve forgotten, but you don’t do relationships. You don’t do boyfriends. And you don’t do monogamy. You’re a regular Brian Kinney, the way I hear it. And that’s not something that’s attractive to me. I’m not … denying that there is something strange and wonderful between us. It’s potential. And what happened on the beach … you were going to kiss me. I feel drawn to you, and it has nothing to do with the circle. I won’t lie and say otherwise. But what I’m looking for, you don’t want to give to anyone. And so like I said, you’re not my boyfriend, and don’t act hurt that I accepted an offer for a date from someone who probably wants to hold my hand and be seen together in public.”

Kurt lifted himself out of his chair as Sebastian mumbled again, “I’m not a jealous boyfriend.”

“You’re not,” Kurt agreed. “You’re not my boyfriend. And I’m going to go see if I can make a copy of this page. I really like it.”

When Kurt was out of the empty glee classroom he leaned back against the door and breathed heavily. He didn’t know what was wrong with him. The things he’d said to Sebastian had been harsh, and he felt like nothing but a hypocrite. Because he’d wanted Sebastian to get jealous. He’d wanted him to put up a fuss and try and talk him out of it and maybe ask him to go to the fundraiser instead. And that made him feel horrible. 

For whatever reason, when Kurt went to work, Sebastian never showed up. Mercedes didn’t seem to know anything about why Sebastian wasn’t there, or Mike, who was the other barista, and neither did the third, Harmony. But they weren’t exactly short staffed, and Kurt was really starting to get the hang of things.

Dinner was quiet at home too. His uncle had tried to cook and made an absolute mess of things, but everything had turned out for the better when they ordered pizza and camped out in the living room instead, watching old home movies that his uncle had found up in the attic a day earlier.

“I really miss this,” his uncle said, reaching for another piece of pizza as Kurt sat with his eyes locked to the TV, watching a child version of his father open a birthday present. “Having family in the house. It’s been a while. It’s really good having you here.”

Kurt laughed openly when his father, maybe no more than six, maybe five, shrieked in delight over whatever he found in the box on the TV. “I’m starting to like it more and more every day.”

“Watch this,” his uncle said, urging Kurt. On the TV there was a small commotion off screen and then a woman screeched in a loud voice about a ruined birthday cake. “That was your Aunt Mildred. She was two. From what I’ve been told she managed to get to the cake, pull it away from all of the adults there, and actually destroy it. I mean she demolished it, with just as much on her, as smeared everywhere. Your dad is about to start crying in a few seconds when he realizes the cake is gone, and then he’s going to demand that mom make Millie go away for ever and ever. It’s great.”

“You’ve watched this before,” Kurt asked, but it sounded more like a statement.

A forced smile made its way to his uncle’s face. “I used to get lonely here. I’d watch these tapes when I did and then it would feel less so. I think by now I have them memorized.”

The statement just made Kurt feel sad. He’d never really stopped to consider his uncle’s feelings in everything.

“So Kurt,” his uncle said through a mouthful of pizza. “I wanted to know if you’d be really upset if I had to go out of town.”

Kurt shook his head. “Not really. Why? What for?”

Knight was nuzzled into his uncle’s side, and the man was stroking the fine, short hairs on the Labrador as he told Kurt, “It’s a yearly conference that the hospital participates in. It’s held in Seattle and there’s always a drawing for who gets to go. Everyone wants to. This year my name came up. It’s six days of good food, a nicer hotel, and getting to be a part of a conference that people from all over the country compete to be at. I want to go, but I don’t want to leave you alone if you don’t think it’s good timing.”

It took Kurt a second to realize that there was a knot in his stomach identified as anxiety when he thought of his uncle leaving. Kurt loved the man so much already, and the thought of him being gone, if only temporarily, reminded Kurt of his father’s death.

“No. I really want you to go. I’m going to be fine.” He couldn’t hold his uncle back, not when the man looked so excited. 

“It’s almost a full week.”

Kurt could see his uncle backing out and he rushed to add, “I’m barely going to see you in the next few weeks anyway. Between school and work and practicing for the concert next month, and the fundraiser, I’m going to be really busy. I’ll miss you, but I think we can stand to have our own lives for a while. And maybe get pizza again when you’re back in town?”

The dog protested as his uncle leaned over to hug him, but Kurt couldn’t bring himself to care. He hugged the man back and knew he’d made the right choice.

The next day at school Kurt had barely mentioned his uncle going out of own to Quinn when she told him matter-of-factly that, “This Friday night we’re having a sleepover at your house.”

Both Rachel and Blaine were standing with them, discussing a planned meeting of their circle, when Blaine seemed to light up at the idea. “I haven’t had one of those in forever.”

“You sleep over at my house all the time,” Rachel told him tiredly. 

“Then you won’t want to come?” Kurt asked, feeling hopeful.

She gave him a dirty, knowing look and said, “I have a family dinner planned with my father that night.”

Quinn wondered, “Should we invite Noah? Make it a circle slumber party.”

“Or Sebastian?” Blaine asked.

Worried about the both of them, Kurt said, “I did just want to keep it small.” And in the end it was decided that Noah probably wouldn’t show up at all, and Sebastian was just a poor idea. 

Quinn added slyly, “We can help you get ready for the fundraiser on Saturday. We need to make you look extra good, so Adam won’t be able to keep his eyes off of you.”

Blaine’s eyes doubled in size. “Adam? As in the new guy Adam? The senior who every single person at this school would either kill to be or date? That Adam?”

Kurt could see Sebastian across the courtyard, talking to a few other students. “Careful,” he said dully. “Don’t let Sebastian hear that. He’ll think he gets to play overprotective dad again.”

Rachel headed off to her next class with a lack of interest in the turn of conversation and Blaine asked, “He doesn’t like Adam? I met Adam yesterday. He’s really nice.”

Quinn whispered into Kurt’s ear, “Or does he just not like that Adam is really nice to you?”

Blaine whined that she and Kurt were keeping secrets. So Kurt told him, “Adam asked me to the fundraiser. He said the two newest guys shouldn’t go alone. I thought he meant as friends, but he made it clear after that it’s a date.”

Hopeful, Blaine looked to Sebastian and said, “I want a date.”

Quinn pinched him hard. “Stick to your faghag and take Rachel like you always do to these school functions. The last thing you want is Sebastian feeling you up in the backseat of his car.” Blaine blushed deep red.

“Quinn. Stop,” Blaine murmured. 

“Knock it off,” Kurt told her gently. 

She rolled her eyes but there was no more teasing. Instead she promised Kurt, “We’ll have a great time. Friday night.”

The wait until Friday was a fairly easy one. Kurt hadn’t been lying when he’d told his uncle that he had a mound of things to do. There were school projects that he hadn’t even mentioned when he’d told him about all the other things. They were distraction enough. And then there was the way that Adam liked the hang out in the front of the school, waiting for Kurt to arrive so he could walk him to class, and how he absolutely hated coffee, but he still came to the café and ordered a cup just so he could stay and chat with Kurt on his break.

Sebastian seemed extremely irritable then, and Kurt kept clear of him. The last thing he needed was to get caught in a game of tug of war between two boys who were so vastly different it was almost ridiculous to compare them. Neither was he something to be fought over, if that was even what they were doing.

But eventually Friday did come around, and after his shift at the coffee house, Kurt had both Quinn and Blaine on his doorstep, overnight bags with them.

He showed them both up to his room, the house already feeling less lonely from his uncle being gone. “Follow me. I was thinking Quinn could have the bed. Blaine, you and I can take the floor.”

Blaine shrugged easily enough and when they were in Kurt’s room, he remarked, “Wow.”

“Wow?” Quinn asked. “No. Not wow. This is amazing!”

“It was my dad’s,” Kurt said, because it really wasn’t any of his work. He’d only done a little redecorating and kept most of his father’s things as a sort of memory to him. 

Quinn sat down on the bed and a second later Knight was charging into the room, up on the bed and then attacking Quinn with happy barks and licks to her face.

Blaine bent over laughing and Kurt said, “I guess I don’t have to worry about my dog liking you.”

“I think he remembers me,” she said, scratching behind Knight’s ears. “You’re such a good boy, Knight.”

They watched movies that night, and talked about circle business, and ordered food from three different places in town. Kurt felt closer to Quinn than ever before, and was beginning to trust Blaine to be truthful to him about all the things concerning his magic he didn’t know. 

Long after the sun had gone down they moved up to Kurt’s room where Quinn spread herself across the bed while Blaine and Kurt tried to decide what kind of music they should listen to.

“Hey,” Quinn said suddenly, leaning off the bed, trying to keep her balance. “You really can see right into Puckerman’s window.”

“Oh, yeah,” Kurt threw over his shoulder, trying to wrangle a Katy Perry CD away from Blaine with a stern look. “The first night I was here I couldn’t figure out why my curtains kept opening by themselves. I thought I was going crazy. It was just Noah being a pervert.”

“Looks like he’s got company.”

When Kurt turned all the way to look over to the next house he could see the young man pressing a fair skinned girl against the back of his door, the both of them locked in a tight embrace and completely unaware of their audience.

Kurt strode right over to the curtains and pulled them, asking Quinn, “He’s a few years older than us, right?”

She guessed, “Two, maybe three. He’s not at the high school. I think he graduated last year. Maybe the year before that. It’s hard to say. He really hasn’t been in the circle before that, and no one seemed to notice him before. And even now, he keeps to himself.   
I don’t think he feels like he fits in.”

Kurt said, “I don’t feel like I fit in. I’m not sure any one of us does.”

“Maybe not,” Quinn agreed.

“Oh, hey! Kurt!”

Across the room Blaine was at his desk, the CDs abandoned in favor of the picture frame in his hands. It was the picture Kurt had found in the hiding space, the one that his uncle had framed for him a week earlier.

“I found that,” Kurt told him, “on accident, really. It’s a picture of my parents. I’ve never had one, if you can believe. I’ve been thinking about getting a copy made, actually. I know, that sounds stupid.”

“No way,” Quinn said, then joined them at the desk.

“These are my parents,” Blaine told Kurt. He pointed to a couple at the edge of the photo. “This is crazy. How old is this photo?”

Quinn snatched the photo and exclaimed, “My parents are here, too.”

Quiet for a moment, Kurt was willing to be that if he showed the picture to he rest of the circle members, they’d be able to identify their parents. And when he looked closely enough, he could find people who all looked at least a little bit like each of his circle members. 

“What do you want to bet,” Kurt asked them, “that our parents all knew each other?”

“They had to,” Quinn said, handing the photo back to Blaine. “I mean, our families are linked. The bloodlines are linked. Rachel’s book has history in it that says her family came from Massachusetts, right around the time of the Salem Witch Trials. I’m willing to guess that they came over here to escape persecution, and that somewhere back in the generations, all of our families did, too. Our parents had to have known each other.”

Blaine interrupted, “But I’ve never seen a picture of them all together. Never. In fact, I’ve never seen any pictures of any two or three of them together.”

Kurt looked to Blaine. “And our parents were all witches? All of them?”

Blaine gave a nod. “Except for one of Rachel’s fathers. I think all of the rest were.”

It was only a guess, but it was probably a good one. And Kurt told them, “I’m sure our parents had a circle.”

“Why’s that?” Quinn asked.

“A gut feeling?” Kurt looked at the picture again. “And because of what Blaine has told me about our families and our blood. We’re all connected. Regardless if we want to be or not, or if we’re a million miles away or right next to each other. Our families have history. I think it would be impossible or us not to be pulled towards each other. They were witches, and I think at least some of them, at some point, had their family books. They probably knew more than we do. And they probably had a circle.”

Quinn looked hard at the picture. “But which of them? A circle is six. Six main members. You can always add to that, but it starts with and is defined by six.”

“I don’t know.” Kurt shook his head. “But I’ll bring this picture with me to school on Monday. I’ll show Rachel and Sebastian then.”

“I don’t know why we didn’t stop to think that our parents might have a circle,” Blaine said, awed at himself. “It really makes perfect sense. Every generation must have a circle. It’s the only way to keep the power in line.”

Kurt thought of the boat accident. “Yeah, well I think our parents might have told us everything, if that accident hadn’t happened. I think that accident ruined everything.”

Quinn agreed quietly and made her way back to the bed.

“Do you mind if I look at this a little longer?” Blaine wondered from Kurt. “There aren’t a lot of pictures up at my house. None of my parents together. That’s for sure.”

“Go ahead.” Kurt pushed the picture at him more readily. “Take all the time you need. And hey, how about I get a copy made for you too?”

Blaine was thanking him profusely when Quinn said, “We’d have a much easier time of this if we had more than Berry’s book.”

Days ago, after sifting through it as carefully as he could, Kurt had moved the book back into the hiding spot. And he thought for a moment about telling them that he’d found his family’s book. His father’s book. In fact he wanted to tell them, but something held him back. The book felt precious, and he needed to be selfish and keep it for just a while longer. He wasn’t ready to share it just yet.

“I’ve looked everywhere for mine,” Blaine said. “I’ve been looking for over a year. I’m pretty sure I’ve torn my house upside down looking for it, and it is not there. If it was, I would have found it by now.”

“Me too,” Quinn voice. “It’s not in my house. I’ve even tried my grandfather’s house just outside of town. He doesn’t have it. Maybe some books just get lost over the years. It’s not such an impossible idea.”

Kurt looked to the bookshelf. “Or they get hidden.”

Blaine asked, “Why would our parents hide our books?”

The answer seemed simple. Kurt said, “To keep them from being found. And used.”

The talked turned away from magic after that. They listened to some music, helped Kurt pick out his clothes for his date with Adam, and laid around until they started to get tired. Then Kurt got up and turned off the lights and burrowed into his sleeping bag. Knight jumped in after him and Kurt pulled the zipper up.

“Kurt?” Blaine whispered in the darkness of the room. “You awake?”

“Blaine,” Quinn said annoyed, “it’s been about thirty seconds since he turned off the lights.”

“Oh.” Blaine fell silent.

Kurt’s head turned in the direction of Blaine’s voice. “What is it?”

“I was just going to say,” Blaine’s voice sounded hesitant, “that I’m really glad that you came here. I mean, I’m really sorry about your dad, but I’m glad you’re here.”

In the quiet, Quinn whispered, “Me too.”

Kurt hugged his dog close and said, “I hated it here when I first came. But that’s just because I hated what had happened to my dad. It took a while, but I’m happy I’m here now. If I have to be somewhere, this is where I want to be.”

“Do you remember?” Quinn asked, “When I told you that you belonged here? When other people told you that?”

“I thought you all were crazy,” Kurt laughed quietly.

“We are. A little.” Her voice indicated how sleepy she was. “But we’re witches, so I think a little crazy is good for us.”

Near him, Blaine said, “Your ceiling is really cool.”

Kurt rolled to his back and looked up at the bright stars glowing the dark. Sometimes he could see them move, forming the kinds of constellations he could sometimes see in the night sky, and others he’d only known from books. They were a great way to fall asleep.

“Night,” Quinn called out.

After Blaine echoed her, Kurt offered his own, and then closed his eyes. No matter what, he had a feeling in his bones. Tomorrow was going to bring something big. Tomorrow was going to change everything.


	7. Chapter 7

Kurt was sixteen, getting ready for Adam to pick him up, and under the very startling realization that he’d never really had a date before. He’d obviously gone places with boys before, and kissed a few, but for the most part his father had been really good at scaring them away. So there had never been a proper date, and honestly Kurt was worried he might mess it up. Adam was, after all, older and likely more seasoned. 

Would his father have liked Adam? Would he have even let Kurt go out with him? They were questions that plagued Kurt as he slipped into his pressed black slacks, and finally settled on a pearly white top that hugged across his shoulders perfectly. He chose his navy jacket for a splash of color and then there was nothing left to do but wait. Knight paced warily in front of him, sensing his anxiety.

Adam, thankfully, was perfectly on time, arriving at six like he’d said he would. And when Kurt opened the door he had to lean on it a little, because the older teen looked amazing.

But it was Adam who complimented, “You’re making me feel outclassed here, Kurt. Though I imagine it’ll be a prevailing feeling, the longer you allow me to accompany you. You look wonderful.”

The compliment made Kurt feel bashful, and it was long enough for Knight to slip by and start pawing at Adam’s pants curiously.

“No,” Kurt told the dog, reaching for him right away. “I’m so sorry, Adam. Bad dog. Are you pants okay, Adam? I forgot about him for a second and he always gets excited when there’s someone new to meet.”

Adam shook the hole thing off as if none of it mattered and explained away, “He’s a dog, Kurt. And a cute one at that. I think his transgressions can be forgiven. Now, is there anyone I need to meet and have my livelihood threatened by, before we can go?”

Something told Kurt that his uncle might have had a few warning words for Adam. There’d already been hints that his uncle could be as terribly protective as his father. But Kurt said, “My uncle is out of town on a business trip, and it’s just us here, so no. You’re safe.”

“Okay then.” Adam held out the crook of his arm. “Shall we?”

When Knight was nudged carefully back indoors, Kurt wrapped a scarf around his neck, took Adam’s arm and let him walk the both of the them down to the street.

“Is that your car?” Kurt asked incredulously when Adam rounded them on a pristine looking, brand new Audi. He let Adam open his door for him. “Really?”

Adam slid into his own seat and said, “It’s kind of ridiculous, right? To give an eighteen year old a car like this? But I think it was my parent’s way of apologizing for not being able to get things right. They’re the type. I’ve got more than I know what to do with, and it’s all because they’re guilty about the divorce.” Adam deadpanned. “The divorce that happened four years ago.”

“At least they’re not fighting over you,” Kurt said tentatively. Kurt sunk down into the leather seat a bit. “They did manage to work a custody agreement out.”

Adam’s eyes crinkled a little. “A horrible one. I would have much rather stayed the full year with either. It is a little tenuous to make friends during the school year, and be unable to spend the summer with them, and likewise have friends in the summer that you can’t even see during the school term. It’s all very inconvenient.”

“But you’ll be done with that soon. And off to college. You said you’re about to turn eighteen? Or you already are?” Kurt felt his skin burn. “Sorry. I’m usually a much better listener than this.”

“I’m already eighteen,” Adam laughed good naturedly. “Earlier in January. But yes, college will solve the dilemma. Now I need only chose between the motherland and America. Either will serve, I just want to be able to stay in one place for a while. I’ve had enough of moving from home to home.”

Kurt gave him a firm nod. “Before leaving Ohio, when I lived with my dad, it was the longest we’d ever been in one place. Six years. Before that we’d barely stay anywhere for one or two. I wanted to believe that he’d let us stay in Ohio, too, until I was old enough to go away to college, but I don’t know if he would have.”

Adam turned down the streets like he’d lived there his whole life. It was a little confounding to Kurt, who’d been there for a few weeks now, and was still having difficulty with the often confusing layout. 

“You have my sympathies about your father.”

“Sorry?” Kurt asked, startled back into the conversation.

Adam offered gently, “Your father? You’d mentioned before that he passed away. May I inquire to your mother?”

Kurt forced a smile. “It’s okay. My dad has been dead for long enough now. Long enough for me to start moving on. As for my mom, she died a long time ago too. Almost a year after my birth. I never knew her.”

“Siblings?”

“Interested in my life story?” Kurt asked with a chuckle.

Adam gave him a smile full of teeth. “Just interested in you. I can stop if you want. It’s not my intention to make you uncomfortable.”

“It’s fine,” Kurt assured him, then said, “No siblings. But you said you had one?”

Kurt liked this. The small talk. The bits of information that Adam wanted to know about him, and shared about himself, and the kind bought them the closer together. The ease in which they spoke to each other made Kurt feel comfortable, and when Adam reached out to rest his fingers over the back of Kurt’s hand, there were no sparks, no energy like with Sebastian, but there was a comfort.

“Younger brother. He’s seven months.” Adam gave Kurt a bland look. “I realize my mother had me quite young, but I can’t be truthful and say that I was pleased to have another sibling last year, despite my mother’s age. Part of me is very grateful I don’t have to worry about these kinds of things with my father and his partner.”

“Partner?” Was it prying if Adam had already mentioned it?

“Yes.” Adam’s smile grew. “And to the best of my knowledge, the reason for the divorce.”

A grin found its way onto Kurt’s face and then the both of them were smiling like idiots. 

They were early to the fundraiser, though the sun had already gone down, but there was hardly anywhere to park. Kurt supposed that couldn’t be helped, with the pier and the Smythe café, and limited space between for the fundraiser. The event had taken out half of the parking lot as it was, and Adam had had to park along the side a little further down.

“I hope you don’t mind walking,” Adam said, offering Kurt his arm once more. “But we’ll share our body heat and I think we’ll be quite fine.”

Kurt slid his arm through the crook of Adam’s and pressed in close. He was wearing his thick jacket, and Adam’s looked to be just as insulating, but the teen had been right. There was some connection of heat and Kurt felt better the closer he walked to Adam.

The fundraiser’s lights in the distance led them in a straight path and before a few minutes had passed Kurt was looking at a large, painted sign that welcomed them to an undersea carnival.

“I suppose they’ve got to keep the water theme prevalent,” Adam said, looking just as intrigued as Kurt felt. “Hungry?”

“I could eat.”

Adam tugged him along. “Come on then. I would be a terrible date if I let you starve. I’d never forgive myself.”

Deeper in, where the tents blocked out the wind, Kurt found it was much less cold. It was still February, and it was chilly, but it was bearable. And the first thing Adam did was push a cup of coffee into Kurt’s hands until he could decide what he wanted to eat. There were a good deal of choices, but all of them seemed messy and unhealthy and downright odd. A deep fried candy bar?

Finally Kurt settled on a bowl of steaming soup. Adam ordered a small bowl of pasta, refused to let Kurt pay for anything, and then pretended as if the small argument had never happened when Kurt protested, “You paid for the fundraiser tickets. You’re making me feel like I’m taking advantage of you.”

Adam led them to a nearby table, his hand pressed wonderfully at the small of Kurt’s back. “How about you and I make a deal? If you enjoy yourself tonight, and so decide that you would like to graciously allow me a second date, I think it would be fair if you paid on that occasion. But I invited you tonight, and I will be paying.”

“You’re stubborn,” Kurt detected.

“Only when I want to make a good impression.”

Kurt hid himself in his jacket’s high collar for a second. “Okay.” It was wonderfully nice to be looked after in such a way. And he couldn’t wait to return the favor.

After a quick bite to eat Adam suggested they play a few games. The typical carnival kind had been set up in long rows and Kurt managed to not say anything when Adam bought them a good deal of tickets to play with.

It was at the ring toss, when neither Kurt nor Adam managed to have any kind of success, that Kurt nearly bumped into a tall Asian man. “Mike?” Kurt recognized him right away.

“Kurt!” The teen had his arm around a pretty, shorter Asian girl. “Good to see you.” He introduced his date as Tina, his girlfriend.

Kurt took it as a good sign that Adam seemed more than happy to wait for a round of introductions, and then hang around while idle chatter was exchanged with Mike.

“I think it’s amazing,” Kurt said when Mike asked him about his first fundraiser experience. “Are they all like this? I can imagine a lot of time and planning went into getting this to look at amazing as it does.”

Mike pressed a kiss to Tina’s forehead as the girl said, “It was weeks of planning, but I do think it came together nicely.”

“You did this?” Kurt was very impressed.

Tina explained, “There’s a committee that oversees these types of events, within the student body at the high school, but as a part of the elected student body it’s my job to make sure you have the kind of reaction that you just did.” She turned a little red in the face. “Thank you for saying you like it.”

Mike cut in, “Tina is just being selfless. She practically put this thing together all on her own. I think she should be more assertive when people ask.”

Adam’s hand was at the small of Kurt’s back again as he offered, “Then we have you to thank, Tina. It is amazing, like Kurt said.”

Tina told Kurt, “We’re always looking for committee members. People who don’t mind working on these types of things and have an eye for detail. I could get you on, even this late in the year if you wanted. Think about it.”

Kurt promised he would, then he and Adam moved off to a few more games. Adam’s hand never left his back and Kurt wondered if this was what it felt like to be wooed. 

At the game stall furthest down the line Adam managed to knock down none of the bottle shaped canisters with his last ticket, but Kurt was luckier, and the teenager running the booth handed him over a small, stuffed dolphin. 

“I feel rather inept,” Adam confessed when Kurt gave the stuffed toy over to him with a cheeky comment. He held the animal to his side. “I wanted to win you a prize.”

“But I won you one instead,” Kurt said, “and you’re out of tickets to try some more.”

Playfully, Adam reminded, “I could always go get more. Or maybe they’d let me just buy one. It seems unfair that you should win me a prize, and I have nothing to give you.”

Kurt could hear the hired jazz band playing at the other end of the fundraiser’s area. It was distracting in how good the band sounded. “You’ve given me enough.”

“We will have to agree to disagree.” Adam paused, then asked, “Would you like to go listen to the band?”

Kurt took him by the hand, their fingers slotting easily, and practically dragged Adam to where the stage had been set up.

They watched for a bit, the music very good, and then Adam slipped off to get them some hot chocolate. It was then that Kurt realized he was standing near Jesse, the brunet bundled up against the weather and barely recognizable.

“Tina told me she saw you,” Jesse said. “You made a bit of an impression on her. I think she wants to take you home with her at the end of the night.”

“I can’t believe she put this all together.” He had to strain his voice to be heard over the music, but it was fine. “I’m impressed.”

Jesse said, “We call her the master planner. Whenever someone has a surprise birthday party or anniversary to plan, we call her. Even the adults do. She can get anything done, practically on any budget. She’ll probably be class president next year. She’ll have my support, for whatever good it’ll do.”

Kurt recalled being told that Rachel was still upset, so many months later, for losing the position she had run for at the beginning of the year. It seemed as if Tina was the one who’d beat her, though clearly for good reason.

“Here you go.” Adam was back in a flash, pressing the drink into Kurt’s hands. “Coffee is manageable, and tea is better, but sometimes there is nothing better than hot chocolate.”

“Adam,” Jesse greeted, and Kurt couldn’t figure out why he looked so confused. “I didn’t know you’d be here tonight.”

Adam’s arm came around Kurt’s shoulders, and that had never happened. Kurt liked it less than the hand at his back, but dealt with it as the teen said, “Kurt graciously accepted my invitation to be here tonight with me.”

“What is it?” The look on Jesse’s face was starting to worry Kurt.

“I just though,” Jesse started, “that you’d be here with … you know what, never mind. Excuse me. I need to go.”

There was barely a chance to say goodbye properly before Jesse was cutting through the crowd and Kurt lost sight of him.

“He’s a little odd,” Adam observed. “But an alright fellow. He and I share an art class.”

“He’s not usually like that.” Kurt frowned and tried to look for him again, but he was long gone.

The band was still playing by the time Adam talked him into desert. There was a protest on Kurt’s lips about how easily he gained weight, and how his hips seemed determined to widen out on him at the barest hint of a calorie, but in the end he was enjoying himself too much to say no.

Adam let him along by the hand once more and said, “I saw it while I was buying us dinner. They’re serving a warm brownie covered in chocolate sauce, sprinkles and a dollop of ice cream. I’m not one for sweets, but I think an exception can be made.”

Mike and Tina were already in the lengthy line by the time Kurt and Adam showed up, and with a small wave they were allowed to cut ahead. Kurt didn’t feel guilty at all.

“You’re in band, right?” Tina asked him as they waited. “Because I’ve been thinking of the senior banquet this year. Do you think it would be a good idea to pair the band, which would be live and very inexpensive music, with the dinner? In the past the class president has just hired a band, but I was thinking of cutting costs there and using the money towards the debate team instead. They won their last heat and they need transportation funds soon. I want to get your opinion before I run it by Jesse.”

Kurt chatted idly with Tina, really enjoying her personality and the way Mike cut in with quick, witty comments, and how Adam was attentive even though Kurt could see he really wasn’t that interested.

And then Kurt saw him.

His stomach fell out from under him, his vision swam, his throat closed up on him and he staggered a little.

“Kurt!”

He felt Adam’s strong hands bracketing his shoulders, holding him up and in place. But he couldn’t breathe, because now the man was gone, and that meant he was somewhere Kurt couldn’t see. He was lurking out there and Kurt was beyond terrified.

“I’m … okay. I’m fine.” Kurt tried to get his legs to work correctly, shaking madly. “I just felt faint.”

Motherly, Tina pressed the back of her hand to his forehead but she said, “It’s so cold out here I can’t tell if you’re warm or not.”

“You felt faint?” Adam asked, concern etched on his face. “Just now, or earlier, too? We could have rescheduled this if you hadn’t felt well. I wouldn’t have minded, Kurt.”

Kurt promised, “Just now. And I’m okay now.”

But the idea struck him again, that he was being watched. And he was defenseless. His knees almost gave out again.

“Okay,” Adam decided, “I think I better get you home.”

“No.” Kurt dug himself in for a fight. “Really. I’m okay. I just want to go to the bathroom for a moment.” He did his best to give Adam a real smile, but he was certain the teen could hear how hard his heart was beating. “You get us our brownies, I’m going to be right back. And stop looking at me like that. I’m perfectly capable of going there by myself.”

Adam still looked unsure when he set off towards the public restrooms the pier provided. There were additional, portable toilets to the left, but Kurt headed into the brick building, hoping to splash water on his face and not run off screaming.

He could be wrong, Kurt told himself. It might not be him. It might not be Fischer.

But if it was, he felt stupid to be running from the man like a coward. He’d been attacked by this man, and he could have been killed, and he felt just as helpless now as he had then. It just all felt stupid now, because he wasn’t alone in a shop at night. Now he was surrounded by a good deal of people, and some of them were friends. He wasn’t alone. He wasn’t vulnerable. But he still felt his way. 

He was drying his hands when it happed. The last person other than him left and the air turned icy. Kurt held his breath and he could hear the sound of someone tisking at him, like he’d been naughty. 

Then a voice in the bathroom sounded. “Kurt.”

Kurt dropped the paper towel.

“Kurt.”

“Who’s there!” Kurt spun around, but it seemed like he was alone. There was no one else. 

A wave of unease brought him down to his knees. He clutched at the sink desperately as he felt his chest threaten to heave under the pressure. It was like before, only worse, and it wasn’t just that he couldn’t move. He couldn’t think, either. 

“Oh, Kurt.” Kurt knew that voice. It had haunted him in his nightmares. “You shouldn’t have run from me.”

He wanted to call for help. There had to be a hundred people just outside the bathroom who could have been able to hear him. But he couldn’t make a sound. And no one, none of the other people, were coming. He was alone. Or worse, he was cornered. 

“Such a special boy.”

No. No. No. No.

“So special. And you were worth the chase. Not many can claim that. Your daddy couldn’t.”

His eyes squeezed shut. He’d told the police about the man who’d attacked him! After the flames had died down and the coroner had pronounced his father dead, he’d told the police that he’d been assaulted and there was a chance the man was responsible for the fire as well. But Kurt had been able to see right away they didn’t think so. They’d blamed the fire on a faulty gas line. Kurt had always thought different. 

“Oh, Kurt. We’re going to have so much fun together. Just you and me.”

“Kurt!”

The voice snapped through Kurt’s thoughts and his inability to move and seemed to shatter the moment completely. It was more than enough for Kurt to lurch up to his feet and start running. He dashed past Tina, who’d broken whatever had been happening, and nearly collided with a group of younger children in his effort to put as much distance between himself and the voice as possible.

That was how he found himself down at the docks, panting heavily and all turned around. He could see the fundraiser in the distance, and the lights from the café, but the pier that stretched into boat docks was a maze that Kurt couldn’t follow in the dark, and he couldn’t find his way out.

All he knew for certain was that he was being followed. He had to be. There was no way the man, who’d followed him all the way from Ohio, was simply going to let him go.

And for the first time since Kurt had begun to experience the development of his magic, he regretted having bound his circle. He regretted the loss of his individual magic, and how utterly normal he now found himself.

The clattering of heels on wood threw Kurt. It wasn’t the sound he was expecting to hear. Then a breathless Tina came into view, her dress pulled up with one hand so she could run and her hair mused from the effort.

“What’s going on?” she asked, genuinely concerned. “Kurt?”

“You shouldn’t be here.” He charged up to her, determined to push her away if need be. “It’s dangerous.”

“I know,” she agreed.

“You know?” Was she a witch? Was she working with the man? Was she the thing that was dangerous?

Tina nodded furiously. “You can’t see anything out here. I can barely see the dock underneath us. Lynn Cooke drowned out here last year, because she was out after dark and she fell in. No one knew what happened to her for weeks. It’s not safe to be out here when it’s this dark, and it isn’t safe to not be wearing a life jacket if we’re going to be. We need to go back.”

“Oh.”

“Kurt?”

He tried pushing at her again. “You have to go back. You can’t be here. He could hurt you.”

“He who? Kurt, what’s going on?”

To Kurt it felt like the beginning of a wave, with the energy around him pulling back, fading around him like the color leaching out of the world. And then it exploded around him, the water rising up, the narrow dock beneath his feet shaking violently, and the wind whipping at him so hard it hurt his ears. 

He head Tina cry out, and then Kurt was flat on his back, wet and hurting, and unable to move.

Fischer. His name was Fischer. At first he’d just been a man, worried about his car and the cost. Then he’d been a deviant, touching Kurt with terrible intent. And in the end he’d been a murder, burning his father alive, trying to take from Kurt everything he loved. Kurt knew all these things about the man who was standing over him, and even more. He could sense the truth, which bled from Fischer like a bad leak 

“Tina!” Kurt tried to look for her. Kurt couldn’t do much without his circle, but she was even less capable, and he felt responsible for her. She’d followed him. She was in danger because of him.

“Twelve years,” Fischer said, boots on either side of Kurt’s chest. “For twelve years I searched for you. Elizabeth’s boy.”

At his mother’s name, Kurt stopped twisting, reaching for Tina’s exposed leg laying further up the dock walkway. 

The man continued, “The ultimate prize. A boy who is so very special. Unimaginably special, and mine.”

“Tina,” Kurt coughed out, “are you okay?” At least he still had some control of his body left.

“Tina can’t hear you now,” Fischer laugher. “In fact, I think she’s going to be out of commission for a little while. She looks like the type who enjoys swimming. So I think I’m going to give her a little nudge.”

As Fisher walked past, the horrible realization of what he panned to do to Tina dawning on Kurt, there was no place for helplessness anymore. He latched onto Fischer and pulled hard, bringing the man down next to him, and jamming his elbow up into the man’s nearby crotch.

“You don’t touch her,” Kurt growled, then he rolled to his knees and readied himself for a fight.

Fischer only seemed pleased by the effort, wheezing a little as he stood to tower over Kurt once more . He delighted, “You’re extraordinary, Kurt! I knew you were worth it. I can feel it even now.” The man tutted, “But you can’t get at it, can you? All that power, and it’s all for not. See, that’s the problem with binding a circle, Kurt.” Fischer kicked him down with a heavy boot, leaving Kurt winded again and groaning. “It makes the circle stronger, but it makes all the members of that circle weaker.”

“I’m not weak!” Only he did feel that way. He felt like he could fall asleep at any time. Like he hadn’t the energy to move, let alone fight. 

Fischer knelt over him, knees down on the dock, his hands pressing Kurt’s wrists into a strong hold again the wood of the planks. “Weak?” the man laughed hard and heavy. “No. You’re right, Kurt. You’re not weak. Your unimaginably strong, and you and I, we’re going to go away, now. You and I, we’re going to use that power of yours, and we’re going to be powerful together. Because don’t you remember? I told you. I’d never hurt you. You’re too precious to me. You’re irreplaceable. You’re mine.”

Slimly hands stroked their way down his face and Kurt fought wildly to win his freedom, feet kicking out, grunt and groaning as he tricked to buck the man off him. 

“I’m going to tell you,” Fischer promised, “all of the things your daddy hid from you. And all of the things he regretted never telling you when I split his belly open and took his power from him.”

Kurt screamed as low and as guttural as he could, and with every bit of strength, praying for even the slightest bit of power, he heaved Fischer over him. But as he did so, his fingers caught the man’s necklace, a length of leather strap holding a medallion of sorts. It snapped off into Kurt’s hand and was forgotten on the dock floor a moment later as Kurt plowed into Fischer’s stomach, the both of them rolling down to the ground.

This was the man who’d killed his father. When he’d realized he couldn’t get to Kurt on his own, when Kurt’s power had been too much for him, he’d gone after his father. He’d killed his father to get to Kurt. This man here. Fischer.

“You killed my father!” Rage burned in Kurt, the darkest kind like he’d never felt before. He wanted to kill Fischer. For what he’d done, Kurt wanted to kill him.

“You’re going to learn to love me, Kurt,” Fischer promised, on his feet and looking devilish. “I’m going to teach you things you never even dreamed of, and then you and I are going to--”

Kurt was going to kill him.

Fischer flew off his feet. And he seemed to hang there, in the air, for just a moment. The look of surprise on the man’s face startled Kurt, then Fischer was flying through the night sky, and cracking against a large, expensive looking boat. A splash followed and a few bubbles, then nothing.

It took a moment for Kurt to register the hands on him, and to see the faces of Quinn, and Blaine and his circle. His circle was there.

“Hey. Hey, Kurt. You’re okay.”

Sebastian caught his chin gently and looked him dead in the eyes, so much like the day he’d pulled him from the water. 

“Sebastian?”

“I’ve got you, Kurt. We won’t let him hurt you.”

“Call an ambulance!” Rachel called out, kneeling next to Tina. “She’s breathing, but she’s got a head wound. Someone give me something to stop the bleeding with.”

“Sebastian.” Kurt threw his arms around he boy’s neck and hugged him as tightly as he could, the past few minutes catching up with him suddenly and making him shake for a whole different reason. “He killed my father. He’s the one who did it. And he was going to try and take me somewhere, and kill Tina, and you came. You came and stopped him.”

“You put up one hell of a fight first.” Sebastian’s long fingers combed through Kurt’s hair. “And you know I wouldn’t have let him take you.”

Noah reported, “Ambulance is on the way. But I think we’d better think up a good cover story before they get here.”

“Kurt.” Quinn put a small but firm hand on his back, between his shoulder blades. “Are you okay?”

Kurt couldn’t answer. He didn’t know if he was. If he could be. Not after Fischer.

Sebastian answered for him, “I’ve got him, Quinn.”

“I know you do,” she said quietly. 

The police came quickly enough, and Kurt decided the easiest lie would be the one closest to the truth. He told the officer who interviewed him about Fischer, but spun the story with the man as nothing but an average stalker. He said that Fischer had tried to take him that night, but that Tina had gotten in the way. The most Kurt could hope for was that it had seemed that way to Tina, at least a bit, and she could back up his story.

The paramedics on the scene looked Kurt over and pronounced him fit enough. With the fundraiser over, and the masses of people everywhere, finding Adam seemed impossible to Kurt. Kurt promised himself he would call his date later, and explain what he could.

But for the time being he was happy to be held close by Sebastian, who hadn’t wanted to be parted from him for even a moment. They were so hot and cold all the time, but right now they were fiery, and Kurt couldn’t see him going anywhere without Sebastian for the time being. It was unspoken and agreed upon by each of them.

They went to the lighthouse after. All of them. And Kurt sat on the couch in the middle of the room with Sebastian pressed in on one side and Quinn on the other.

“What happened?” Rachel demanded, hands on her hips. “Who was that man? And did you know he was a witch? He knew you were.”

“Cool it, Berry,” Noah barked out at her. “Give him a chance to tell us.”

Sebastian’s hand was on his shoulder and it was enough strength for Kurt to ask them, “You know why I came here, right? Because my father died?” He got a round of nods. “What I never properly explained … what I never told you all in detail is about the night my dad died. That night I was working late at his shop, and right before I closed this man came in.” He told them everything he could remember from the night, the way he’d felt and how his magic had exploded around him for the first time. And then how he’d thought there might be a connection between Fischer and his father’s death.

“Oh, Kurt,” Quinn said comfortingly. Taking his hand in her own. “I’m so sorry you had to face that by yourself.”

“I saw him at the fundraiser,” Kurt continued, “And I panicked. In the shop he was telling me all these things about how special I was, and how he needed me and I was just so scared. He said the same things tonight. And he knew I was a witch before I knew. Back in Ohio he knew.”

Noah asked, “Is this yours?” He was holding up the necklace Kurt had snapped from the man’s neck.

Kurt shook his head. “It was his. Fischer’s I broke it off by accident. What is it?”

Blaine frowned at it and then held his hand out for it from Noah. “I think I’ve seen this symbol before.”

“What is it?” Rachel asked.

Blaine held it loosely in the palm of his hand and wondered, “Do you have your book with you, Rachel?”

Kurt turned to Quinn. “He said he killed my father. And then he followed me here.”

“He’s dead,” she told him darkly, not one bit sorry. “We saw him go under the water. He drowned, Kurt. He won’t hurt you any more. We made sure of it.”

Sebastian’s hand squeezed his shoulder. “We thought he was going to kill you.”

Kurt shook his head. “He needed me. He said as much. He wasn’t going to hurt me.” But Kurt was certain Fischer would have tried to take him. Maybe from the state. And he never would have seen his circle or Uncle Andy again.

“I know it’s in here somewhere,” Blaine said, flipping carefully through the book. Rachel was watching nearby, almost afraid to let anyone but herself handle the book. Kurt couldn’t fault her, however. He hadn’t told anyone else that he’d found his own.

A thought dawned on Kurt and he turned away from Quinn with her angry, wet eyes and to Sebastian who was still as pale as Kurt imagined he himself was. “How did you know where I was? How did you know to come? Especially you. I know you weren’t going to come at all to the fundraiser.”

There was a twist of anger and regret on Sebastian’s face as he said, “I know.”

Quinn said over his shoulder, “Puck and I were at the café with Sebastian. Rachel and Blaine were at the fair already.”

Sebastian told Kurt, “Jesse called me. He wanted to know about a project we were doing for school, but I could hear the fair in the background. I asked him about it and he said he’d just run into you. You and your date.” The last bit came out through clenched teeth. “He said you looked like you could use a little help.”

Kurt thought back to when he’d last seen Jesse. They’d been watching the band and drinking hot chocolate. Nothing had been wrong there. Nothing Kurt had known at the time. 

“He told you to come?”

“No,” Quinn said for Sebastian, “but Sebastian said we had to. I called Blaine from there.”

“I didn’t need it then, though,” Kurt said, confused. “And what did you think was happening? That my date was getting a little grabby and I needed you to keep him in line?”

Sebastian’s face said as much, which only served to annoy Kurt more.

“How did you know exactly where I was?” Kurt wondered, turning back to Quinn. “There’s no way you saw me out there.”

Perched on a nearby footstool with his elbows on his knees, Noah said, “We could feel you. Just because our individual magic is limited, doesn’t mean it isn’t there.” Fischer had said he could feel it. So maybe it wasn’t such a stretch to think other witches could. “We could feel it coming off you heavy, and we’re your circle. It was easy to follow it. You’ll be able to do the same for any of us.”

Kurt nodded silently. That made sense. 

“I knew it!” Blaine turned the book around quickly so they could all see the symbol on the page. “Here it is.” He held up the medallion with the printed symbol and even from a distance Kurt could see they matched.

“What does it mean?” Quinn asked.

Eyebrows furrowed, Blaine paraphrased from the book, “It’s the main focal point in a very dangerous spell. Rachel’s book has a warning about the spell, well, not the actual spell itself. It’s a warning to all witches.” He looked up, surprised. “It’s a spell that steals a witch’s magic.”

“He was going steal my magic? You can do that?”

“I guess,” Blaine said unsure. “We’ve never come across anything like this. But if I’m reading this right it says this is the symbol used to transfer magic from one witch to another. So my guess is yes, he was going to steal your magic.”

“My dad,” Kurt said softly. “He said he killed my dad to take his power. He must have meant his magic. He killed my dad for his magic.” Kurt hid his face in his hands and bent over. 

Rachel’s voice demanded, “What would have happened to us? To the circle? Kurt’s magic is linked to our own. Could he have gotten access to the circle’s power then?”

“Maybe that’s why he wanted Hummel,” Noah said.

Sebastian shrugged. “He could have gone after any of us then.” Sebastian gave Noah a pointed look. “Why go after someone who’s got a completely capable witch of a father? You don’t have any parents, Puck. You’re the easiest mark. There isn’t anyone protecting you.”

“We’re protecting him,” Quinn snapped.

Kurt took several, deep breaths. He wanted to feel relieved that Fischer was dead. He wanted to think that his father was avenged, but he didn’t feel any better. He only felt like there’d been nothing but death around him for the longest time and it wasn’t stopping. It seemed to be picking up steam instead.

“So he was a witch?” Kurt asked Blaine, looking up from his hands. “You said it was a spell. That means he was a witch.”

Blaine crossed over to kneel in front of him. “If I had to make a guess, an educated one at that, I’d say he wasn’t gifted, and he certainly wasn’t natural.”

“Natural?”

“Like us,” Rachel dismissed.

Quinn explained, “You were born with your magic, Kurt. It’s in your blood. You are a completely natural witch. But there are witches out there who have bought or stolen their magic. It’s completely possible to do, but I wouldn’t recommend it. Nasty things start to happen when you steal magic. This guy, Fischer, he sounds like he was power hungry, and he was going after witches for their magic. You’re a big player, Kurt. You have a bound circle and you come from a very strong bloodline. It would be like winning the lottery with you. He might have gotten something from your father, but it’s different when you have children.”

Sebastian finally took his hand from Kurt’s shoulder as he said, “Witches who have children impart their magic onto them. It happens when they’re born. It’s more like a safety precaution to preserve the line, more than anything else. So when the parents eventually die, the magic is completely inherited by the child. So Fischer probably got something from your dad, but when he died, most of it went directly to you. Which made Fischer come back for more with you.”

Kurt could almost see how it had happened in his mind. Fischer had targeted him while he was alone, knowing that he didn’t have a clue about his heritage or how to help himself. But then his magic had protected him, surprising both Kurt and Fischer. Fischer must have decided to cut his losses and go after his father instead. But the magic hadn’t been enough, not for Fischer, forcing the man to track Kurt down to Washington. 

Still, something struck him as odd. “Fischer said he searched for me for twelve years.”

No one said a word.

Kurt pressed , “Why track one witch, even if he’s supposed to be powerful, for twelve years when there are dozens of them who are easier targets? Why me? What made me worth the chase?” Fischer had said he as worth it.

Blaine closed Rachel’s book and handed it back to her. “I don’t have anymore answers for you. But I think we should all be careful from now on. Witches don’t always have circles, but they’re not solitary creatures, either. We tend to gravitate to each other, and we’ve been known to work together for important causes. This Fischer guy may not have been alone.”

“Come on.” Sebastian stood and helped Kurt up. “I’ll take you home. Your uncle is still out of town, right? I want to make sure you get in fine.”

Kurt wanted to tell him no. He wanted to be alone. But he didn’t have a ride home and no matter what, he did feel safer with Sebastian.

Adam was waiting for him on the front porch when Kurt pulled up.

When Sebastian reached for his seatbelt latch Kurt caught his hand, saying, “You don’t need to walk me to the door. It’s not like I’m your date.” Kurt nodded to Adam. “I’m his.”

Sebastian floundered for a moment. “I still should--”

“You should go home.” Kurt brushed at his hair for a moment. “I need to go explain to my very nice, very polite date why I just ran out on him. And I’m fairly sure you’ll only make things more difficult if you insist on coming with me to play caveman.”

“Don’t you remember? Fischer could be working with someone. I shouldn’t leave you alone.”

Kurt gave him a long look. “There’s still no evidence to say he was working with anyone. And I do know how to take precautions. I’ll get everything locked up tonight. And my dog hasn’t let me down yet. Matter of fact, now that I think about it, Knight is just as much to thank for scaring Fischer off the first time as my magic. We were a tag team that night.”

“I--”

“Goodbye,” Kurt said, squeezing his fingers around Sebastian’s wrist. “And thank you for being there tonight.”

The look on Adam’s face as Kurt walked up was concerned. He wasted no time in asking, “What happened? I was worried you weren’t okay, and then I couldn’t find you, and something happened with Tina. You gave me a fright.”

“It’s a long story,” Kurt said, opening his front door and inviting Adam in. As he closed the door behind the teen Kurt could see Sebastian still watching from the street. He made a shooing motion at him and rolled his eyes as Sebastian gunned it down the street, clearly mad at being made to leave.

“There were police everywhere,” Adam said, standing still in the foyer. “And paramedics. I was worried you were hurt.”

“I’m fine.” Kurt made a sweeping gesture at himself. “As you can see. But I do want to tell you how sorry I am. I didn’t meant to get separated from you, and I left my phone at home and I thought it would be easier to just go home and wait until later.”

After a pause, Adam nodded in acceptance, then cracked a smile. “Crazy night, yes?”

“You have no idea.”

Kurt invited him to stay for drinks, almost certain his uncle had some kind of tea in the cupboard, but Adam declined, citing, “My mom saw about the fundraiser on the news already. She’s anxious for me to come home. I should get there. Rain check?”

“Of course.”

Adam’s mouth pulled tight before he asked, “The ending of the night disregarded, did you have an agreeable time?”

“I had a great time,” Kurt corrected. 

“Then you’d be open to us attempting another date? One with a better ending?”

Kurt nodded. “Without the police and ambulance, and without Tina ending up on her way to the hospital. I’m just glad she’s going to be okay and she wasn’t hurt too badly. She told me about a girl who drowned out there last year.” The more Kurt thought about it, the more he realized that the water surrounding the town were filled with nothing but death.

“Then I’ll leave you for the night.” Adam bent slowly, and Kurt knew what was coming long before it happened. It gave him a moment to decide if he wanted to turn his head or not. He almost did. But Adam had been a perfect gentleman and beyond understanding. He’d done everything right and Kurt really liked him. So he held steady and leaned up, letting his lips meet Adam’s.

The kiss lasted only a moment, more chaste than anything else, and then Adam was straightening up with a brilliant smile on his face. “You were everything I’d hoped you would be,” Adam said, then let Kurt see him out.

When Adam was gone down the street in his car, Kurt padded over to the kitchen and played the messages on the answering machine. There had been several left since he’d gone to the fundraiser.

“More water?” Kurt asked Knight who’s bowl was nearly empty. The dog jetted through Kurt’s legs and around once more obviously happy to have him home. “Okay. Okay. I’m going to get you some.”

Kurt placed the water on the ground as his uncle’s voice flooded the kitchen. He said he was sorry to have missed Kurt and couldn’t wait to be home. He wanted to know how the fundraiser had gone, and if Kurt was remembering the small list of chores his uncle had left for him. Then the message ended and Kurt wanted to try and call him back the next morning.

The second message left him standing deathly still as he listened. The voice on the message was crisp and professional, asking Kurt to come in as soon as possible, and to bring proof of identification. 

Kurt looked down at Knight and said, “That was a storage facility.” The dog was busy with his water but Kurt continued. “They say some of my dad’s stuff is in storage and they need me to come get it now that he’s died.” 

A storage facility. In Washington. If the message was the be believed, it meant that his father had had things in storage for over a decade and a half and he hadn’t so much as said a word about it to anyone. Kurt was under the impression that his father had left with him in the middle of the night with only the clothes on their backs. But obviously he’d taken the time to put things into storage and had paid for that storage over the years. Like a secret. 

“Okay,” Kurt decided, lifting Knight when he was done. “I think tomorrow we’re going to see what dad had in storage.”

The idea was kind of exciting really. And it was a nice distraction from Tina getting hurt and the man who’d killed is father dying that night. So he went to sleep with guesses floating through his mind and no worries, which was a nice change of pace.


	8. Chapter 8

In the morning the only thing on Kurt’s mind was the storage facility that had called. He drank coffee in the kitchen as he tried to decide whether to go first, or pay his uncle a call. And in the end, after coffee and toast, Kurt did call his uncle, but there was no answer on the line, and he was too impatient to wait and try later. The matter seemed decided, so he headed up to his room to change.

When he stepped outside, Knight on his leash and ready to go, Kurt could see Noah in the yard next door, sitting on the stoop of his front door, looking considerably bored. 

“Noah!” Kurt waved at him.

“I’ve told you not to call me that.”

“Not to call you your name?” Kurt rolled his eyes. “Good luck with that.”

Noah gave him a mean look. “It’s eight in the morning. Why are you so perky this early in the morning? It’s the weekend. You should be in bed until noon. I think that’s the rule.”

“Why aren’t you?” Kurt shot back. He wandered to the hedge that separated their lawns. “And what happened to you face?”

There was a terrible looking redness to the right side of Noah’s face, and Kurt had enough sense to realize at least some of the skin would bruise. 

“Nothing,” Noah mumbled. But from inside his house there was a horrible screech and the sound of something breaking. “Grandma just had a little too much to drink.”

“At eight in the morning?” Kurt made up his mind. “Are you doing anything this morning?” He let Knight run circles around him. “Because I have this thing I should check out, and I’m thinking I might need an extra pair of hands. Are you interested?”

Noah didn’t seem to hesitate before picking himself up and sauntering over. “Where?”

“We’re going to a storage facility across town. I wasn’t really being completely truthful. It’s not so much that I need an extra pair of hands, but I’m not really sure I know where I’m going. It’s off Pinewood?”

Kurt led Noah over to his truck parked around back as the man said, “Yeah. I know where that is. Lots of folks keep stuff up there. I can show you.”

The drive wasn’t too long, which was fine by Kurt because they made it in particular silence, and then the storage facility came into view and it was bigger than Kurt expected.

“What exactly are we here for,” Noah asked once they’d parked. He swung himself out of the truck. 

Kurt told him, “I don’t know. It’s hard to say. But I think we’re going to find out.” Knight trotted along side them.

The owner, a short, portly man with a heavy beard, told him the moment he was in the door, “If you’re not Burt Hummel’s son I’ll eat my shoe.”

Kurt paused in the doorway, Noah almost running him down. “Yes. That’s me. Kurt Hummel.”

“You look like him,” the owner said. But he still insisted on seeing ID, and having Kurt sign a release form before he’d take them down a long row of large sized pods.

“It’s one of these?” Kurt asked as they trotted along. His father had left town in the middle of the night. How was it that he’d had a whole storage full to things? It didn’t seem possible.

The owner stopped them in front of the pod second to last and pointed, “This one was your dad’s. He paid for it on the first of every month like clockwork, never missed a payment, and said that absolutely no one was ever to go into this locker without his permission. You included.”

“But I’m here,” Kurt pointed out.

The owner shrugged. “Your father is dead, and unless you want to start making payments on this space, I need it cleared out. In fact, you were pretty hard to track down. But I’ll leave you to it. I can let you have all of today to get the space cleared out, but anything left over tomorrow is going to be thrown out.”

Kurt nodded at the man and then took the key from him, the man leaving quickly after that.

“So your dad had a secret storage locker,” Noah observed, arms crossed as he watched Kurt slot the key. “That’s not a little suspicious at all.”

Kurt worked the key in the stiff lock. It was clear that the pair hadn’t been used together in a very long time. Probably fifteen years. “My father was a witch. A couple hundred years ago you could get burned alive for something like that. I think paranoia is excused.”

“That hardly happens anymore, though.”

Kurt couldn’t tell if Noah was joking or not.

By the time he got the lock open his hands were numb from the cold. But he had enough strength left to pull the heavy door up, and reveal the contents inside.

Noah gave a long whistle. “I bet you’re glad you brought me now.”

Kurt blew out his own breath. “And my truck.”

There were boxes. Lots of boxes, all of different sizes and shaped, but all of them looking won and old. They were stacked three or four high in some places, but only one in others, and there didn’t seem to be a pattern to them, or any indication of what was inside. They certainly didn’t fill the pod, but there were enough boxes to make a dent in the space. There were also several lockboxes on the ground, and a safe in the corner.

“Get the light,” Kurt requested, and he headed to the nearest box. “There’s something written on these boxes, but I can’t read it.”

Noah was just tall enough to catch the swinging string, and when he did the whole place lit up. He asked curiously, “What’s it say?”

“It’s just my dad’s name.” He had expected a little more. It was sort of disappointing. 

“Well, what’s inside?”

Kurt popped the top. “Books.”

“Books?”

But they weren’t just any books. When Kurt pulled a few out of the boxes he could see they were old. Their spines were cracked, the covers were worn, and they needed to be handled gently. But they seemed a treasure, even if Kurt didn’t know why. Not until he opened them and discovered hand writing, not print. “Magic books.”

Noah pressed in close enough to touch and he said, “I think Anderson and Berry would have a synchronized stroke at this. Look at the date on the front. It’s over two hundred years old.”

Inside the first few books that Kurt handled were spells. There were potion recipes. There was even one book that seemed a giant index for sigils, symbols and important marks for witches. And in the last book he handled, before Noah drew his attention away, there were pages and pages of illustrations of plants and herbs and flowers. Ingredients that Kurt hadn’t been known could be used for the purposes that the book started.

“This one doesn’t have your dad’s name on it.”

“Huh?”

“It says Elizabeth.”

Kurt hurried to the box Noah was at and said with a shiver, “That’s my mother’s name.” He reached in for a book that was dated even older than the ones he’d been looking at. “I guess my father saved some of her things, too.”

“If these were their books,” Noah said, “then your parents were seriously powerful. I’m talking class A. Because I’ve never even seen stuff this complex before. I didn’t even know these kinds of books were around anymore. I thought they were all gone, but both your parents had a bunch of them.”

Books were in all the boxes except for a few. The last two in the far corner were home to ritual items and focusing crystals and things Kurt had only just begun to learn about. Noah knew more about them and seemed convinced they could be worth more than the books.

“What about the lockboxes?” Noah asked when the boxes had all been opened. “Any of them need a key or combination?”

“Only one,” Kurt said, pointing to the safe by the wall. The little black box at his feet opened with a snap.

“Come to papa!” Noah’s eyes bulged. “How much is in there?”

Kurt rifled through the sacks of money. “I don’t know.” There were different denominations so it was hard to tell, but he grabbed a handful and passed it over to Noah. “I think you deserve something for helping me.”

Noah seemed surprised. “Really? You’re just giving me a stack full of money?”

Kurt shrugged. “What do I need it for? I have my paycheck from the café every other Friday.”

“For like … college or something.” Noah tried to give it back. “You’re smart. You’re probably going to go somewhere really expensive.”

“Keep it.” Kurt closed the box and stood. “My father’s assets were liquidated when he died, and that includes his shop which was doing well. It passed to me, after debts were paid, and it’s in a fund that I can’t touch for anything but college, or until I’m 18. And did you think I didn’t have insurance on my car? My father wouldn’t have let me drive it without full coverage. I got a check in the mail last week. So believe me, I don’t need a pile of money that my father hoarded away fifteen years ago. And take your cut so I won’t feel bad about making you haul all of these boxes onto my truck.”

Gruffly, but with a smile, Noah said, “I might require additional funds for that.”

Kurt humored him with a smile as Knight raced along the space of the pod, clearly happy to be out of the house and able to run around.

There were two more boxes, one which contained a few pieces of paper that didn’t make much sense to Kurt. They were property and land deeds, that much he got from the title, and they were in his mother’s name, but there wasn’t much information to be found. Maybe his mother and father owned property at one point?

“Uh, Kurt. You should see this.”

Noah already had the third lockbox open, but his body was blocking Kurt from seeing the contents. “What is it?” Kurt stopped short when Noah moved to the side. “That is a gun.”

The simple berretta was staring up at him.

“Why, yes, Kurt. It is a gun.”

“Why is there a gun in a lockbox?”

Noah shrugged. “To keep it safe? It’s the responsible thing to do.”

“Okay, okay, close it.” Kurt snapped forward, pushing the lid shut. “We’re going to pretend that this was never here. When I said my dad was paranoid, I really had no clue how paranoid that was. But you and I are going to not ever mention this again, and the gun is going to get tossed in the bay the next time I get the chance.”

“You don’t want to keep it?” Noah asked. “I mean, I think it’s safe to say that your father left it in here for a reason. Maybe he thought these books were worth protecting. Even with a gun.”

Kurt carefully tucked the small lockbox in one of the bigger boxes with books and shook his head. “No. We’re pretending this was never here.” He held up a sharp finger. “You don’t speak a word of this to anyone.”

Noah made a motion promising to keep his lips sealed.

“Okay,” Kurt breathed out. He pulled his keys from his pocket. “I’m going to go bring the truck here. You start getting these boxes ready. If we’re lucky we may only need to make two or three trips to get everything back.

It took until lunch. 

But eventually Kurt’s foyer was stacked with books and both Kurt and Noah were spread out on the floor alongside the boxes, out of breath and exhausted. The only thing that they hadn’t been able to get into, the combination locked safe, was pressed further down the hall and against a wall. 

“Like I said,” Noah wheezed out, “you owe me a bigger tip.”

“You can have it all,” Kurt groaned. “Just let me die.”

Noah said certainly, “We need tacos.”

“Tacos?”

The tanned man managed to his feet and declared tacos again. “That’s where we’re going for lunch.”

Before enlisting Noah’s help, Kurt hadn’t spent much time with him at all. And they might have shared the same circle, but they’d never really bonded properly. But as they ate their tacos together, and laughed about how stupid they must have looked hauling in all those boxes, Kurt regretted it.

Kurt told him about life in Ohio, and then Utah before that, and Kansas further back. And they compared notes over their accidental magic flares. Noah made him laugh when he told Kurt that a few years back nearly he entire circle had gotten chickenpox at the same time, and when Kurt closed his eyes all he could see in his mind was a spotting, itchy Sebastian. 

“I missed a lot,” Kurt said, feeling sorry. He could have been there for the first time they all started to figure out they were witches. He could have known Quinn and Sebastian for as long as Noah had. And he could have gotten the chickenpox with them and suffered as a circle, together and with each other as comfort.

“You’re here now,” Noah said with a shrug. “And we would have waited forever. It’s not like we had a choice. There isn’t anyone left in your bloodline. It has to be you.”

As Noah bit into another taco, Kurt frowned. “What does that mean?”

Noah was a little hard to understand as he said, “Our circle is supposed to have six specific bloodlines. You’re the last of yours.”

Kurt supposed that was true. Both his uncle and aunt didn’t have any children, and to the best of Kurt’s knowledge, he didn’t have any half siblings out there. There were a couple of people his father had always referred to as cousins, but he was pretty sue they weren’t blood related. There was always the chance there was another Hummel out there, but who knew for sure.

The light from outside gleamed into the restaurant and Kurt could see the discoloration on Noah’s face. He couldn’t help saying softly, “You can’t let her hit you.”

Noah froze. “You don’t know anything.”

“I know you said she drinks. I know your face is going to bruise. And I know you’re my friend, so I don’t want you getting hurt, and I want to stop it from happening if it’s possible.”

“My grandmother is seventy years old. I’m pretty sure she couldn’t clock me if she tried.”

“It looks,” Kurt clarified, “like she threw something heavy at you. And it’s not okay just because she’s your grandmother. Don’t think that it is.”

“Drop it” Noah snapped. “So she hits the bottle. She lost her daughter and her son-in-law. Then her husband was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s and he barely remembered his name on the good days before he died. So you don’t know anything, and look, I like you Kurt, but it’s really none of your business.”

Kurt pursed his lips and then nodded. “Okay.”

Noah went home right after lunch, and Kurt, inching around the boxes in the foyer, ended up going through the lockbox with the papers in it one more time. He’d thought as much the first time, but he was certain now that he had a property deed in his hand. It was filed under his mother’s name, but there was an additional paper bequeathing all property to her biological child, and that was Kurt. 

“Uncle Andy,” Kurt said when he called him later on. “I’ve got a couple of questions for you. Have you got the time?” He didn’t want to tell him about the storage space. He didn’t want to have to explain a hundred books on witchcraft and potion making. But he had found something worth revealing.

“Always for you,” his uncle said. “I’ve got another half hour before I have to head back. Go ahead when you’re ready.”

“I found something,” Kurt said, looking at the deed. “And I think it’s mine now. It belonged to my mother.”

He could practically hear his uncle thinking. “I was pretty sure I didn’t have anything else of hers left in the house.”

“It’s a deed of some kind. Do you know where 241 Cyprus Hill is?”

There was a clatter, and then a rush of sound before his uncle said, “Cyprus Hill?”

“You know it then?”

“You have a deed?” his uncle demanded. “For the right of ownership?”

Kurt held the phone between his shoulder and ear, then read, “It has my mother’s name, Elizabeth Mason, on it as the property owner. But there’s something attached that says the property is the right of her biological child. That it passes to her first born. It’s signed and sealed. And that means me, right?”

“Listen to me, Kurt. I want you to swear something to me right now, and I want you to swear that you will keep what you promise me.”

“Uncle Andy?”

“You can’t ever go there.” His uncle sounded scared, and that frightened Kurt. “I want you to swear right now, on your father, that you will never go up to Cyprus Hill.”

Kurt protested, “But my mother owned property up there. I guess I own it now, though I’m not sure if that’s true because I’m a minor. I guess I’d have to look into it--”

“Kurt!”

Kurt held his breath. “What’s wrong with Cyprus Hill?”

His uncle said, “It’s not safe. There’s nothing up there anyway. Just a burned out shell, but it’s not safe and I want your sworn word to me that you will never go up there under any circumstances. I don’t want you getting hurt. I won’t let you.”

He sounded like he was begging, but he couldn’t help himself. “Please, I want to make that promise to you, but I need to know what’s up there. This is about my mother. Don’t hide anything from me. I’m not a child anymore.”

“But you’re still my responsibility.”

“Please?” Kurt ran his fingers over his mother’s name. He couldn’t just abandon something that was hers.

Finally, after what seemed to be much deliberation, his uncle said, “241 Cyprus Hill is your mother’s home. It’s where she lived. The property, at least. And I guess she made sure that it would pass to you, as soon as you were born.”

“But why can’t I go up there?” He wanted to see the house she grew up in. The yard that she played in. It had been over fifteen years since she’d had a bedroom in the house, but it could still be there. “Or does someone else live there now? I have the deed. I think that makes me the rightful owner.”

“There’s nothing up there,” his uncle said bluntly. “I told you. There’s nothing but a burned out shell. There was … a fire.”

Kurt stilled. “A fire?” He didn’t know why the idea terrified him. It wasn’t as if she’d been in the fire. His mother had died in the boating accident. 

“Yes, a fire,” his uncle sighed. “Your grandfather moved the family here when Elizabeth was sixteen. He purchased the property outright and the house was already there. It was a big house. I remember everyone being really surprised a family had moved in. There were always a hundred stories about the land up there being some kind of Indian burial ground, and kids used to say it was haunted. It was all bull, but that was the talk. Of course everyone forgot that the second they saw your mother. She really was beautiful, Kurt. You look more like her than you’ll ever know.”

“But the place burned down?” Kurt urged.

His uncle made an affirmative sound. “Elizabeth’s senior year. Burt and your mother were out on a date and I remember my dad trying to go out and find them when the call came in from a friend who lived nearby. The entire place burned to the ground. Your grandparents died, and so did Elizabeth’s two younger sisters.”

Kurt had to lean against he nearby wall. “Her whole family?”

Wearily, his uncle said, “Your dad was there for her every step of the way. He never left her side and it really brought them even closer together. It’s when they decided to get married. And they had you a little over a year later. But Kurt, I’m telling you, there’s nothing left of Cyprus Hill. There is a shell. There might be a few walls left. There can’t be much more.”

“So you haven’t been up there?”

“I was eight when it happened,” his uncle reminded. “Dad wasn’t about to let me go anywhere near a place that could be dangerous and structurally compromised, just like I won’t let you. I’m sorry if that makes you mad, but I need your word on it.”

Reluctantly, Kurt had to agree. He didn’t want to make his uncle upset. “But what about the land? The deed says it passes from one family member to another.”

“I trust that it did. Your mother inherited the land when her father died, and you did when she died. It must be yours. But there’s nothing up there for you. And I am being serious when I tell you it’s dangerous to go up there.”

“I promised I wouldn’t.” Kurt let the deed rest down on the nearby countertop. “I was just curious.”

“Well, I hope your curiosity is sated.”

It really wasn’t, but Kurt couldn’t say more. He’d made the promise and it was done. He wouldn’t go up to Cyprus Hill. At least not while he was a minor and his uncle considered him a child. In a couple of years he’d be an adult by the law’s standards, and it would be different story then. For now he could give his uncle a little peace of mind.

Before he realized it, it as nearly two, and his shift at the café was coming up shortly. He said goodbye to his uncle and hung up, padding back out in the foyer for one more look at the books.

“Knock it off,” he told Knight gently as the dog growled at one of the boxes. “It’s just some books. No need to be agitated.”

One of the boxes on top was open, and he reached for the first book, the pages creaking as he turned them. 

Something slipped out and fluttered to the floor.

“No! Don’t you dare.” Kurt maybe snapped a little too strictly at the dog, but Kurt had been terrified when he’d seen Knight lunge for the paper. Kurt had actually lost homework to his overexcited dog. He wouldn’t risk something old and important.

When he got a better look at what had fallen out he realized it was an envelope. It was plain white and made of sturdy stalk. He wanted to open it right way, but his eyes caught the time again and he scurried off, placing the envelope back on top of the book in the box and out of sight. He nearly forgot about it completely.

As usual, the café was packed by the time Kurt got there, but it seemed even more frenzied than usual. As Kurt hurried to put on his apron he could see Mercedes trying to handle the influx of customers at the cash register by herself, and only Harmony was at the machine mixing drinks.

“What’s going on?” Kurt asked, moving to relieve Mercedes. He was under the understanding that the coffee machines, even the simple ones that did nothing but brew beans, absolutely hated him. Something had gone wrong every time he’d tried to master the espresso machine. So he had taken over cashier duties for the most part, and usually ended up serving drinks to tables when it was slow, and clearing the trash away.

“It’s a Sunday,” Mercedes said slowly, “that’s what’s going on. And Sebastian is sick.” They would’ve had Mike to help as well, but Tina had only just fully recovered from her injuries at the docks, and Mike had been caring for her. He wouldn’t be back until he was sure she could manage without him there to fetch her a glass of water. Kurt supposed it was true love. There’d apparently been talk of marriage.

“Sebastian is sick?” Kurt took an order quickly as he mulled over the words and told Mercedes, “Really?”

She shrugged. “He gets sick a lot. Once every couple of weeks. That’s for sure. Some people just get sick a lot. Anyway, he’s out today and we’re going to have to manage on our own.”

Kurt took half a dozen more orders, things flowing much more smoothly now with two people getting the drinks out, then Kurt spotted Sebastian’s mother across the café. She was crowded into a corner table, with her chin in one hand and looking absolutely medicated to the gills. It made Kurt wonder who was taking care of Sebastian if he wasn’t well enough to come to work. As far as Kurt knew, it was only Sebastian and his mother. Once Sebastian had mentioned his cousin by the name of Hunter, but apparently he lived up in Seattle and rarely visited. Sebastian claimed he was one hundred percent not a witch.

But he didn’t have much time to dwell on the thought. It seemed like all of the teenagers in twenty mile radius wanted to buy coffee at that very moment, and a lot of them were coming back for seconds. It was all Kurt could do to keep up. 

Eventually, however, as the sun went down and the temperature dropped to frigid levels, the crowd began to thin out. While Mercedes handled the cash register, Kurt made a quick sweep of the café to clear out dirty dishes, and to ask Sebastian’s mother, “Are you okay?”

She’d been still for what had to be hours, barely so much as breathing. He’d been terrified more than once that something was seriously wrong.

“Oh, Burt. I’m fine.”

Kurt managed to choke out, “It’s Kurt, Mrs. Smythe. It’s Kurt. I’m Burt’s son.”

She blinked wearily at him, then nodded slowly. “Yes, Yes you are. Of course. I apologize.”

There weren’t any customers, so Kurt took a moment to slide into the chair across from her. “I hear Sebastian was out sick today. Is it bad? Mercedes said he gets sick often.”

Sebastian’s mother hummed a moment, hands pressing together and then against her mouth. “Even since he was a baby. All the children in his play group would have runny noses. He’d have the fever and chills.”

“But he’s okay?” He wasn’t even sure she could answer that. Sebastian had said she heavily self medicated and he could see it in the way she couldn’t focus on him for long.

“Drowning,” she mumbled.

Kurt felt his hear stutter and he looked instinctively through the large windows in the café, and out to the rough docks. “He’s out there?”

“Drowning in his thoughts. The truth. His fate. Your fate.”

No, Kurt decided. She really wasn’t there. And Sebastian wasn’t out in the water. He wasn’t drowning. “I--”

“He doesn’t know what to do,” she said, looking like she wanted to reach for him. “He’s fighting it so hard, and he wants to give in, but he’s stubborn. Like his father. He thinks he can change his fate. Play with it. And he’s drowning for it.”

There was that word again. Fate. People used it like it was an entity unto itself. Like it was self aware, and fighting against them. To Kurt it was just a way to say expectation, and he liked to think that everyone had the right to make their own way and choose their own path.

“Sebastian and I aren’t fated,” Kurt told her gently. “People aren’t fated to be together. If they like each other, that’s wonderful, and if they’re compatible, even better. People can fall in love and stay in love forever. That’s what I want some day. But Sebastian and I are just two people who have good days and bad days. And I certainly haven’t known him long enough--”

She bore down on him. “Do you know how long the Smythes and Hummels have been twining together?”

Kurt shook his head silently, perturbed. 

“Hundred of years.” She nearly spat the words. “For hundreds of years they’ve been circling each other, coming close, but always missing the mark. Burt and I, we were so close. So close. We were going to be the first.”

Kurt wondered if Sebastian’s mother had ever really stopped loving his father enough to love her own husband. She’d certainly never let Burt go from her heart, but it begged the question if Sebastian’s father had only been a spot filled for the sake of having a family. It was a horrible thought. 

“I really need to get back to work, Mrs. Smythe. I had something I wanted to show Sebastian today, but I guess if he’s out sick, it’ll have to wait.” It was the picture, the one that Blaine and Quinn had seen, that Kurt had promised to show to everyone else but had forgotten about completely. “But hey, maybe you’d like to see.”

She looked curious and Kurt’s mind was made up.

He let Mercedes know he was taking his break and ran out to his truck to retrieve the photo. By the time he got back Sebastian’s mom looked in danger of falling asleep, on the spot, and Kurt was almost loathed to disturb her.

“I found this,” he told her, holding the picture out. “It was my father’s and it must have been special to him because he made sure to save it. To protect it.”

Her hand was shaking as she took the picture, and her eyes seemed to mist over immediately. “I remember this,” she said quietly.

“It’s my parents, right?” Kurt wanted to point, but held back. “And Blaine Anderson’s, and Quinn Fabray’s, and then you and your husband. But I’m not sure who the rest of the people are, other than my uncle who apparently liked to follow you guys around everywhere. I hear my dad had a soft spot for him.”

She looked the most coherent he’d ever seen her as she touched the glossy top gingerly. “Kristina and Henry. Michael and Josie.”

“You knew them, yes? You were good friends?”

She repeated, “I remember this.” A smile pulled onto her face and it made her seem young for a second. “Kristina’s baby shower.”

“Kristina?”

“Puckerman,” she clarified. “Her baby shower. We had it on the boat. There was cake.”

Kurt’s head angled towards the picture and he could follow her finger easily enough to where a tall man had his hand resting protectively on his companion’s belly. It was a little hard to tell in the photo, but she did sort of look pregnant. These were Noah’s parents. And that meant the photo had to have been taken only a few short years before the accident.

“Was that your husband?” Kurt asked, finger tracing to the almost baby faced teen flashing a peace sign towards the camera as he snuck a kiss to Sebastian’s mother’s face. Sebastian looked so much like him it was startling, but also thrilling.

Kurt felt absolutely terrible the moment the tears came free and started streaming down her face. He handed her a napkin and apologized profusely, leaning over to take the picture back.

“That’s mine.”

Kurt froze and said awkwardly, “I could have a copy made for you, if you want. I’m going to make copies for a lot of people.”

“No.” She moved faster than he could tack. But quick as lightening the picture was falling down to the table top and she had his wrist in her bony grip, her fingers like ice. She repeated, “That’s mine. The bracelet.”

The statement was profoundly unnerving. “I think you’re wrong,” Kurt told her gently. “My father had this saved with the picture. It must have belonged to my mother before she died.”

The grip wasn’t relenting and Sebastian’s mother sounded infallible as she told him, “He gave that to me on my fifteenth birthday. We went sailing and he gave it to me. It’s mine.”

“It’s yours,” Kurt said slowly, feeling dumb. That just didn’t make any sense. “Are you absolutely--”

“I gave it back to him,” she said lowly, “when he broke up with me for your mother.”

But his father had kept it. The man had kept it hidden away with a photo of his best friends and a book that had more value than anything else in the world as far as the Hummel bloodline went.

Kurt looked down at the shining silver. “My dad kept it. You gave it back and he kept it.”

“Seems fitting,” she said with a laugh. “Hummel and Smythe are linked through that bracelet. It was your great grandmother’s. That’s what your father told me when he gave it to me. And he had my uncle charm it for him.” Kurt stopped and she seemed to realize what she’s said and hastily corrected, “Had it charmed by the local priest. Blessed. For protection.”

There’d always been some doubt as to if their parents had a circle, and which of them had been witches, and even what had ended the practice of witchcraft for them, but Kurt was more certain now that Sebastian’s mother had been the bloodline that Sebastian had inherited it from. Sebastian had even said that it was his mother’s maiden name that was Smythe, and not his father’s surname. 

Kurt wondered why his father hadn’t gotten rid of the bracelet. After all, everyone said his father had been deeply in love with his mother when she’d died. It didn’t make sense that he would keep a token charm bracelet from a previous girlfriend if that were the case. It should have gotten tossed out the second his father started dating his mother.

“I like it.” Kurt turned it over in the light. “It’s pretty.” It felt like a connection to the past now, rather than his mother, and that was okay. “Did you want it back?”

She shook her head, eyes drooping. “I gave it back.”

“Both my parents are dead now,” Kurt reminded. “And he did care a lot for you when he gave it to you.” More than that, she still cared. “I would understand if you wanted it back. Maybe for nostalgia.”

“You keep it.” She finally let go of his wrist. “Until Sebastian has sense enough to give you a family token.”

“I don’t follow.”

A line of customers had formed while Kurt had been talking and Mercedes started waving at him once more, trying to draw him in from his break early.

“Don’t give it back.”

Kurt confessed, “I’m lost now.”

“When he gives it to you,” she told him, “don’t give it back. Not like I did.”

She wouldn’t talk after that, and she certainly didn’t want to look at the picture. Kurt felt like he’d upset her and when he tried to apologize, he got nothing in return.

He was heading back to help Mercedes when he thought once more of Sebastian, and felt his heart ache. He turned back to her and asked, “Do you think it would be okay if I went over after my shift to see Sebastian? I know it’s going to be late, and we have school tomorrow, but I really want to check on him. It’s horrible being sick, and I want him to know that someone cares.” He could only think about how if he got sick, his father wouldn’t be there. He’d have his Uncle Andy, but it wasn’t the same. Nothing replaced a parent. 

Kurt thought he saw her nod at him and that was enough. Then a finger stretched out and pointed towards the office. “I have something for you. Bottom drawer in my desk. Take it.”

Kurt looked to the office. “You have something for me?”

She was almost pleading with him as she requested, “Tell no one. Not even Sebastian. Especially Sebastian. Not until the time is right. And not when you see him tonight.”

Kurt left her sitting there and with a promise of just a minute more to Mercedes, he found what she said was his.

It was a small, wooden box with a symbol carved on the top. There didn’t seem to be a lock on the box, but it wouldn’t open no matter how hard Kurt pulled on it. And there was a steady hum from the wood, something that almost felt like magic, and he had a feeling of certainty that he’d need magic to get it open. Only that meant he had to get someone from the circle to help him, and Sebastian’s mother hadn’t wanted him to let anyone know he had it.

It was a mystery. Kurt didn’t particularly like mysteries, or secrets, but he could do what was asked of him. He’d take the box, like she’d said, and he wouldn’t tell anyone. He’d put it away and be done with it.

He scurried back to work and could barely wait for the end of his shift.

Closing up seemed to take forever, but eventually it was done, and as Mercedes made the count for the day in the back office, Harmony already gone, Kurt asked, “What about Mrs. Smythe? We can’t just leave her out there.” She was still at the table, maybe asleep now.

“Why not?” Mercedes stacked the bills and then bagged them. “That’s what Sebastian says to do. Make sure she’s okay, make sure she’s upright, and then leave her to sleep the Oxy out of her system, or whatever she’s got in there.”

It seemed wrong, but Kurt was anxious to get to Sebastian, and so he left her there with an apology and then turned out the lights before snagging her keys for good measure. He didn’t think she was capable of getting up and staggering to her car in the parking lot, but he didn’t want to take any chances.

He supposed it was for the best, because her key ring not only had her car keys on it, but also her house key. It made it easy for Kurt to slip into her house silently and then creep up the stairs just in case Sebastian was sleeping.

He was. Kurt found his room down the hall with the door cracked, and when Kurt poked his head in, he could just see Sebastian rolled to the side of his bed with a foot sticking out from the bottom of his blankets. He gave a soft snore and remained completely unaware that Kurt was there.

Kurt was happy to see that there was a half eaten, abandoned and cold bowl of soup on the nearby night stand, along with a bottle of cold syrup and a box of tissues. It looked like Sebastian was more than capable of taking care of himself.

“You shouldn’t have to,” Kurt said quietly. He sat on the edge of the bed and pressed the back of his hand to Sebastian’s smooth forehead. “You’re sixteen. You should have someone to take care of you when you’re sick. You shouldn’t have to manage on your own.”

Sebastian groaned and rolled towards him. “Mom?”

“No.” Kurt cracked a smile. “It’s me.”

Sebastian grinned lazily. “Best dream ever.”

“You’re still hot,” Kurt said. He could still feel it on the back of his hand. “I think your fever hasn’t broken yet, so I’m letting you know right now that I’m going to excuse anything you might say to me. No apologizes necessary for whatever inappropriate things I know you are just dying to say to me.”

Completely disoriented, Sebastian said, “You talk too much even in my dreams.” His voice was heavy from sleep.

“Sebastian.” Kurt pinched the bridge of his nose. “What am I going to do with you?”

He helped Sebastian sit up enough to take a long drink of water, then took his temperature properly with the nearby ear thermometer, and then helped tuck the blankets in back around where Sebastian had kicked at them. 

“At least you’re not grumpy when you’re sick.”

In fact it seemed to be the other way around, with Sebastian kicking playfully at him, and grinning so wide it seemed like it must have hurt. Sebastian said, “You are the perfect nursemaid ever. That’s what you should be for Halloween. A sexy, super awesome nurse.”

Kurt rolled his eyes. “I’ll keep that in mind.”

“But there has be a skirt, because you’ve got legs that go on for days and I want to be able to see--”

Threateningly, Kurt said, “Don’t make me get the rectal thermometer.”

Sebastian beamed up at him. “I don’t think that’s the right kind of tactic to try with me.”

Kurt sighed. Sebastian was right. “How are you not wallowing in how horrible you must feel? That’s what normal people do when they’re sick. They complain, and rightfully so. I’d much rather prefer you to complain right now.”

Sebastian settled back against his pillows, looking sleepy. “I’m just having some fun.”

“Well, fun at someone else’s expense is selfish and rude.” Kurt bent near him to make sure he’d gotten the sheets and blankets in place. “Now, do you have everything you need? Make sure to tell me now, because I’m going to leave. Ask away.”

Instead of that, Sebastian inquired, “Why’d you come here?”

Once more, Kurt sat on the edge of the bed. He balled his hands in his lap and said, “Your mother is passed out in the café right now.”

Sebastian looked away. “Oh.”

“I figured,” Kurt told him, “she was in no condition to take care of you, and regardless if you’re six or sixteen, or ever twenty-six, when you get sick, you deserve to have someone take care of you. It should be a rule. It’s a rule in my book, actually. I just wanted to check in on you.”

Sebastian grunted out, “Thanks.” Then his hand snuck out from under the blankets and caught Kurt’s, squeezing in appreciation. “Was she okay?”

It took a second to follow, and then even longer for Kurt to speak after he realized that despite being sick, and completely out of commission, the only thing on Sebastian’s mind was the welfare of his mother. That kind of selfless compassion was impossible to ignore, and incredibly attractive.

“Have you seen me wear this?” Kurt held up his wrist, the silver gleaming in the light from the lamp next to Sebastian’s bed. “I found it a while back, hidden in my father’s old room. I was sure it was my mother’s, and he’d saved it back when she died. I thought maybe it was too painful for him to look at every day, but he wanted to keep it because it was her. That’s what I thought. Then your mom saw it. She told me it’s hers. My dad gave it to your mom when they were young, and she wore it until they broke up.”

“That was my mother’s?” Sebastian tried for a better look. 

“Your mother gave my quite the talk about the Hummels an the Smythes.”

Sebastian groaned. “You shouldn’t listen to her.”

“Apparently,” Kurt said, “we’re twined together through time. Fated. She really likes that word.” 

“You can’t believe a word she says. She’s … a little crazy, actually.”

Kindly, Kurt told him, “She’s still heartbroken after all these years. And no, I don’t believe her. I don’t believe in fate. I only believe in two people being a right fit for each other If that were, for argument’s sake, to be us, then it would be because we’re good for each other. It wouldn’t be because of fate. Fate, whatever you want to think fate is, it can’t make people be together, and it can’t punish people for not. I prefer to think I have control over my life, and nothing, not even fate, is going to tell me who to love.” 

Sebastian looked hard at him, and Kurt felt like the teen was looking through him, deep down inside, maybe to where Kurt was most vulnerable.

Sebastian shifted on the bed, curling to his side and tucking his hand back under the blankets. “She’d probably have a fit if you said that.”

“I stand by it.” Kurt shrugged and got up. “You seem to spend so much time being angry at fate, or what people tell you fate is. I think you should start taking control, just like me. It’s not such a horrible thing. And you might like it.”

Kurt promised to see him at school and with a small wave, he headed through the door. He heard Sebastian call out a thanks once more, but it was soft and Kurt imagined he’d be asleep in no time. 

It was after ten by the time Kurt got home from Sebastian’s. He trudged up the walkway to his house with the box Sebastian’s mother had given him tucked under one arm, and his feet feeling like they were encased in cement blocks. He couldn’t wait to turn in for the night. He’d figure out the box later on, and all of the books that were still in his foyer.

As Kurt drew near the front door he noticed that the light both he and his uncle kept on in the drawing room, the light always visible from the yard, was out. Kurt never would have turned it off himself, even during the day, and he wondered if the light a had blown. Some of the light bulbs in his uncle’s house seemed as old as his uncle, and Kurt had been looking for an excuse to update him to the more energy saving versions.

But he knew something was wrong the second he stepped over the threshold. The air in the house felt electrified. There was static around him, and power. It reeked of another witch. A powerful one at that.

“Knight?” Kurt called out, trying to seem as unobservant as possible. If someone was with him in the house he wanted to get the jump on them. He wanted them to think he was completely unaware. “Where are you?” And he knew his dog would be a great distraction. It had worked on Fischer. “Where are you, boy?”

He screamed bloody murder the moment arms came around him from behind. A hand clamped down on his mouth, silencing him right away and he was lifted off his feet by a powerful arm, and then spun to the side. Whoever was in his house clearly had more strength on him, though not necessarily more height. Kurt could feel the difference as he was held.

“Quiet!” a voice hissed. 

Kurt screamed again, the sound muffled by the hand. And he fought. He kicked and flailed and wiggled around, trying to break free.

But he couldn’t, and his captor inched him towards the back of the house easily, knocking over a nearby lamp and table.

Magic flared around them, smashing out the glass imbedded in the ornate front door and nearly knocking the door itself off the hinges. Kurt wasn’t sure if it was his magic, flaring up to protect him, or the other’s. He couldn’t say and it was too hard to distinguish between them.

“I said be quiet!” the voice said again, and it was enough for Kurt to recognize the voice was male.

Another wave of magic ravished the house and Kurt’s boot caught the edge of the dinning room rug. He flailed for only a second, throwing the man attacking him off balance as well, and then they were both crashing to the ground. Kurt hit the side of a nearby end table, bounced off and felt a flare of pain at his temple. Then nothing more.


	9. Chapter 9

“Kidnapping is a felony.”

“It’s a good thing this isn’t a kidnapping then.”

Kurt reached up gingerly and touched his temple, wincing as his fingers came back only slightly damp this time. “Assault is an additional charge, and I think it’s all compounded by the fact that I’m a minor. You could be looking at several decades already, and that’s if you’re not taking me across state lines. It’ll just get dicey after that if you are.”

“I’m not taking you across state lines. I’m not even taking you out of town. Well, not much. Is your forehead still bleeding? I think I apologized for that. I really don’t think I’m to blame for what happened, but I did apologize. And I offered you my handkerchief.”

Kurt looked over at the driver of the car. “Firstly, yes, my forehead is still bleeding. If you hadn’t attacked me, I wouldn’t have tripped and I wouldn’t have gotten hurt, so I do think you are to blame, and no, I don’t want a your handkerchief.”

“I bet there’s a second in there somewhere.”

Kurt cut his eyes at the man. “Secondly, could you please inform me as to why I would not be worried about my situation, despite your continual reassurances? I’ve been hurt, kidnapped by a stranger from my very own home, I’m now locked in his car, and I have no clue what he wants or where he’s taking me.”

The man barely glanced at the road as he drove, committing most of his attention to Kurt. He said happily, “I want you to know that I’m not going to hurt you. I’m probably the only person right now who can claim that wholly, but that’s also probably because I’m the only one who knows anything about anything.”

“You’re clearly deranged.” Kurt touched his forehead again. He could feel a cut, not deep, but long, running under his hairline from his temple, up over his eyebrow and along his forehead. It wasn’t bad, and it had mostly stopped bleeding already, but there was likely to be a scar. A faint reminder. “So forgive me if I don’t take you at your word.”

The man said, “You surprised me with that nosedive. If you hadn’t freaked out I’m pretty sure I would have gotten to explain myself completely, and then you wouldn’t be bleeding over the upholstery of my very nice car.”

It was dark in the car but they were passing under lights quickly enough that Kurt could see the exposed wires under the steering wheel. He said dully, “Your very stolen car.”

“Doesn’t make it any less nice. But you just let me know when you want that handkerchief. It’s not going to have a hidden razorblade in it or anything. I’ve got a vested interest in keeping you alive for as long as possible, Kurt.”

Kurt turned to look at him. “How do you know my name?” Had this man been following him? Stalking him? Was he another Fischer?

With a scoff, the man said, “Because you’re a Hummel, and I know your father only had one child. That makes you Kurt, and I could smell you magic in the air from a hundred miles away the second you bound your circle. That was stupid, by the way.”

Kurt let his hand fall back to his lap as they passed the in-town, two garage fire station. It was one of the last notable areas before they left town and headed out into the highway surrounded by the woods on all sides. He thought about trying for help, but instead he said, “You’re a witch. I felt it earlier. You damaged my house.”

“Send me the bill.”

Kurt nearly sneered, “I seriously doubt you have the funds to cover the cost. Now, you have my name, so I’d like to have yours. Or is that too much to ask before you drive me out to a secluded area and try to--”

“You’re kind of sassy, Kurt,” the man laughed. “Fun, even. If you weren’t bleeding, and I wasn’t kind of trying to earn your trust, I think we’d get along just fine.”

Kurt crossed his arms. “I’ll take your name now, so I know what to tell the police when I escape and flag them down.”

The man reached into his coat pocket and pulled out a square cloth. A handkerchief. He held it out to Kurt, along with a capped bottle of water and said, “I’d really appreciate you getting cleaned up. We’re going to grab a bite to eat at this great diner I know, and things would go a lot better if it didn’t look like you stepped right out of a slasher flick.”

Kurt reached out and took the two items. “I’m flattered that you think I’m going to be willing to cooperate with my captor. Though just to be clear, it typically takes much longer for Stockholm syndrome to kick in.”

The man gave Kurt a perfect smile. “I know you are, Kurt. Because we have a lot to talk about, and you’re going to want to hear what I have to say.”

“You sound sure.” Kurt tipped water onto the cloth and started cleaning his forehead.

“I am. So clean up, and then I’m going to tell you all about what your father was hiding when he ran with you, and about your circle, and about the danger coming for you that you never knew existed.” The man winked at Kurt. “I’m Cooper, by the way. And we’re practically family. You just don’t know it yet.”

The man, Cooper if he was to be believed, hadn’t been lying when he’d said they were going to get something to eat. Kurt wasn’t really hungry by the time they pulled up to the old time looking diner, but there was a great smell drifting outside to meet them and it was enough to get his stomach rumbling a little.

Cooper climbed from the car and told Kurt, “When I was a little kid my mom and dad used to bring me up here on the weekends and let me have any kind of pie With a scoop of ice cream on the side. I got two scoops the time they told me I was getting a little brother or sister.”

Kurt gave himself a final look over in the car’s rearview mirror and then said, “I hope they have a salad. I gorged myself on specialty coffee earlier.”

“Garden and Caesar,” Cooper assured.

Kurt hurried to his side. “And you said you were going to tell me about my father.”

“Important things.” Cooper held the diner door open for him. “Things that people will try to hide from you.”

There was one cook, and one waitress inside, and two patrons drinking coffee at the bar. The waitress gave them a dark, suspicious look, maybe from the obvious cut on Kurt’s forehead, or from the fact that it was half to midnight. In either case, it took a bit of time before she came around to the booth they’d taken in the back.

Kurt had half a glass of diet coke, watched Cooper down two cups of coffee, and then said, “My patience is kind of running thin, a lot like my nerves. I’d like to known what you told me you’d say, or I might feel the need to let the waitress know exactly how I came to be in your company.”

Cooper simply requested, “Wait until the food gets here,” and then went back to his coffee.

So Kurt waited. 

“Your father took you away,” Cooper said when the time was right, “to protect you. To protect your circle.” Cooper spoke in hushed tones and through huge bites of his grilled chicken sandwich. “To stop it from being bound.”

“Wait.” Kurt’s eyebrows rose. “Did you say to stop it? I thought the point of the circle was to bind it and make it safe to practice magic. Aren’t witches supposed to be predisposed to use their magic emotionally?” That’s what Rachel had said, and Blaine had backed up, and even what Sebastian had supported. It was what had felt right and it was a decision Kurt stood by.

“No, no.” Cooper chomped down on a piece of wayward lettuce. “You’re right. At least you would have been right a hundred years ago, before technology and paranoia and the bans.”

“The bans?”

“Magic bands, “Cooper said. “Some communities, a lot of them actually, have started banning magic. I’m talking witches banning magic. Not the norms. Some to protect themselves from other witches, some to protect themselves from their own magic, and most to stay under the radar of hunters. That’s what your father was scared of. That’s why he never wanted you to be able to have the opportunity to bind your circle. The hunters have always been the problem for witches.”

Kurt choked a little on his salad. “Witch hunters?” It sounded like a horrible bedtime story of some sort.

“None other. I’m certainly not talking about those guys who like to dress up in camo on the weekends and take down Bambi with a twelve gauge. Real fair, in my opinion.”

Mind racing, Kurt said, “You’re going to have to go back. I’m not following. So my dad was afraid of the hunters? What does that have to do with binding my circle?”

Cooper was half done with his chicken sandwich and he moved onto a greasy side of fries, fingers dabbing on a nearby napkin. “Witches get stronger when they bind their circle. Their magic links to each other, they become in tune with each other and the elements that feed that power. You may have to rely on each other to access that magic, but when you do, it’s tenfold. A circle is crazy powerful, Kurt, when they’re all working together for the same goal, they're practically unstoppable, I’d say.”

“And hunters don’t like that?” Kurt realized his voice had risen a little in tone and brought it back down. “What’s the connection?”

“I’m getting there.” Cooper grinned. “When a group of witches bind their circle it creates a ripple effect for everyone in a significant radius. I was in Oregon and I felt it. I think it’s safe to say any of the hunters in the area would have been clued into it, and it’s what your dad was trying to avoid. Because the hunters fear us. They fear our circles.”

“They hate us,” Kurt guessed. They were called hunters, after all.

Cooper shrugged. “Some do. Some don’t. The fact is, up until recently, say, fifty or so years, hunters were only peace keepers. They weren’t even called hunters. Their job was to keep witches in check who misused their magic, or used it to abuse the norms. They were in charge of righting wrongs, but strictly not getting involved in a witch’s right to chose the path they walked. They couldn’t interfere before a misdeed was done. Only after.”

Kurt gave Cooper an unforgiving look. “You expect me to believe that hunters and witches were buddies fifty years ago? What about Salem? And everything after?”

“Don’t you read?” Cooper asked with a scoff, going back to his sandwich. “Haven’t you started reading any of those books you’ve got in your foyer? They should cover this.” Cooper cleared his throat. “Witches and hunters never got along, but they weren’t enemies, either. The Salem incident? Not hunters. Just paranoid norms who saw a little too much, and then invented a shitload more. What I am saying is that hunters used to let witches practice their magic how they chose, and then protected both witches and norms if something went wrong.”

“Then why was my dad afraid? Afraid enough to take me away from the magic and my circle and his home?”

Cooper gave him a weird look that Kurt didn’t understand. “Because something happened. Something happened between the witches and the hunters and it all turned sour. The hunters started interfering. They started chasing us down and trying to make us stop practicing. They incited a lot of anger from the witch community, and the witches fought back with the best tool they had: their magic. After that the hunters made it clear they’d go after anyone who was practicing, and they’d go after anyone who was a threat to practicing, which includes a bound circle. They will kill you, Kurt, to stop you from practicing your magic. To stop you from using it, good or bad. They will kill you and won’t think twice about it. And they’re probably already here. Watching and waiting.”

Kurt gave an almost frantic look around. Was he being watching now?

“It’s not just the hunters,” Cooper added. “You need to watch out for other witches. Bound circles are rare now. Very rare. That makes you a huge target to witches who would love to get their hands on your magic. I think you know what I’m taking about.”

“You know about Fischer.” It was a statement.

“He was a low life,” Cooper said ruthlessly. “A pathetic claim to the name of witch.”

“He killed my father,” Kurt said, voice pitchy. It still hurt so much to acknowledge. 

Cooper paused. “He wasn’t even the worst that will be looking to steal your magic. In fact, he was child’s play. Your circle wasted him with no more than a single, cohesive thought. They were working on instinct to protect you. That’s why he went down so easy. He wasn’t even a challenge. He just caught your dad off guard. Your dad didn’t seem him coming, and Burt was out of practice.”

“Worse is coming?” Kurt dared to ask.

Cooper nodded. “A lot worse. More powerful witches, hunters, and both councils of elders.” When Kurt made to ask, Cooper said, “You don’t need to worry about them. Not yet. What you do need to worry about is how you’re going to keep your circle safe.”

Kurt let his hands rest up on the table, and nearly begging, he asked, “How do I do that?”

For the first time it seemed Cooper had no answer. “Be vigilant,” he suggested. “Go in pairs. And try to use as little magic as possible right now. The fact is, there are no easy answers, or simple solutions. I don’t have that for you. Not yet, at least. But I’m working on it.”

Kurt looked at Cooper, and he wondered out loud, “You know what happened to my mother, don’t you? The accident that no one wants to talk about and everyone wants to cover up. You know.”

“I don’t,” Cooper said peevishly. “That’s one secret a lot of people took to their graves. But yes, before you ask, magic was involved. I know that because it’s how nearly everyone in your little town lost their magic.”

“I knew it,” Kurt said, feeling a little victorious. “I knew Sebastian’s mother was a witch.” Then he asked quickly, “What happened? With the magic?”

Cooper’s sandwich now sat dejectedly in front of the both of them, looking droopy and sad. It reflected Cooper himself. “The elders came. They’re the buffer, really, between the regular witches like you and I, and the hunters. They’re older, wiser, and usually able to make decisions that benefit us as a whole. So they came, and they saw what had happened, and they knew magic had caused it--caused so many people to die, and they decided that it was too dangerous. The hunters would come and they’d start killing people and it was going to be a disaster. The elders, the council, they did what they had to. They took magic from witches and made them norms. Your dad got away just in time. That’s why he still had his.”

“And you really don’t know what happened?”

Cooper shook his head. “No clue. I wasn’t there. Actually, I was about four at the time.”

“How’d you find out about being a witch?” Kurt asked curiously. “And learn your magic? I mean, obviously you don’t have a circle, but you’ve got pretty good control.”

Cooper gave him a dark glare. “The hard way.”

Kurt only ate about half of his salad, and Cooper didn’t touch the rest of his sandwich. They mostly sat in silence, Kurt mulling over what he’d been told and Cooper looking out the window. 

“You said we were family.”

Cooper looked a little startled. “What?”

“You said we were family,” Kurt reminded. “Sort of.”

Finally Cooper cracked a smile. “Ask Blaine.”

“Okay.” Kurt wanted to press for more, but he was feeling weary.

A few minutes later Cooper paid the bill and they were back in the car, headed into town. 

“There’s something else,” Cooper said when they were back on the road.

“About?”

Cooper wouldn’t look him in the eye. “Your mother.”

Kurt turned sharply toward him, his hand fisting Cooper’s shirt. “What about her? What do you know?”

“Whatever happened on that boat,” Cooper revealed slowly, “your mom was involved somehow. As a key player. I wasn’t lying when I said I didn’t know what happened, but I have been trying to figure it out. And your mother’s name keeps coming up. There are … a lot of people who were scared of her. Scared of what she could do and what she was willing to do. I think even your dad was scared by the end.”

Scared? People had been scared of his mother?

“And I know this,” Cooper continued, “whatever was happening on that boat, your father and went out to try and stop it. He knew something at first and did nothing. But I guess before the end he changed his mind and went out to try and stop it. That’s when the boat sank. That’s when all of those people drowned. And that’s when magic was banned. Your mother is at the heart of it, Kurt. I just don’t know how or why.”

That worried Kurt more than anything else.

“Did you hurt my dog?” Kurt asked before they were back at his house. He remembered that Knight hadn’t been there when he’d come home. There hadn’t been any barking and Knight had been suspiciously absent. For all Cooper had told him, and all the priceless information that had come to light, Kurt wouldn’t be able to forgive him if anything happened to Knight.

“I put him to sleep,” Cooper explained quietly. “He’ll be fine.”

“Good.” Kurt leaned an elbow against the window. 

“It has to be you.”

“Huh?” Kurt looked over to Cooper. “What was that?”

Cooper turned onto his street. “When I said that your circle has to be kept safe, I meant it was you who had to do it. I really meant it. It’s up to you. You’re the lynchpin to the whole operation. You’re the only one who can keep them safe.”

“Why?”

Again, in a frustrating way, Cooper said, “I really don’t have a clue. I know that’s not the answer you want to hear, but I don’t. I can just feel it. I’m sure most witches can. You’re the strongest of the circle. It could be your blood, or something else at work. Regardless, you’re the one. In every circle, there’s always one witch that’s stronger than the rest. For that, they’re the lynchpin. This time around it just happens to be you. They’re your responsibility.”

“I didn’t even know I was a witch this time last month.”

“Doesn’t matter,” Cooper told him kindly. “You’re very special, Kurt Hummel. You were born special.”

“Don’t say that,” Kurt urged. He’d been told that before. He hated it.

Cooper pulled them to a stop in front of Kurt’s house. “I know it’s not what you want to hear, but it’s the truth. And you’ll grow into the idea. Your father had to. And his. As far as I know, Hummel men and women have been heading their circles for hundreds of years.”

Kurt gnawed his bottom lip, then asked, “Why are you doing this? Why are you helping me? Because we’re sort of like family?”

“No.” Cooper sounded firm and sure finally. “I’m doing it because your father isn’t here to guide you. And like I said, I have a vested interest in keeping your circle safe. My reasons in that way are my own. But there’s also something else. There’s a storm on the horizon. Something is brewing. Something is coming. If you and the other members of your circle were older and more experienced, you’d be able to feel it, too. It’s unsettling and I can’t help thinking it’s got something to do with you and your circle. So I want you to be safe and be careful. I’ll be in touch with you later on.”

Kurt told him sternly, “There’s nothing even remotely cool about cryptic messages. This isn’t an Agatha Christie case.”

“And you aren’t Nancy Drew.” Cooper hit the lock on the door to let him out. “I’d tell you if I knew. Trust me. I’d tell you anything that could keep your circle safe. But for now this has to be enough. Now go inside. I think you have company. I’ve been blocking your whereabouts with my magic. I’m going to go out on a limb and say it’s made everyone very antsy not being about to feel you out.”

Kurt opened the door and stepped out of the car. Cooper was right. Kurt could see a bunch of shapes moving around in his house, and then recognized Quinn’s face in the window and she was shouting something to the others as she pointed at him.

“See you around, Kurt,” Cooper called. “And make sure to say hi to Blaine for me.”

The front door slammed open and Kurt watched, quite comically, as the whole of his circle came pouring out, each trying to beat the other to get to him first. Even Sebastian, who was flushed in the face and uneven on his feet, hobbled along.

“Are you okay?” Blaine demanded, reaching him first. There were four other voices that followed in a furry, and then Kurt was being pushed and pulled and he felt more than a little claustrophobic.

“I’m okay, I swear,” Kurt said, realizing that they were still in the middle of the lawn, and making so much noise that it wouldn’t be long before the neighbors came to see what the commotion was.

“He’s going to freeze to death out here,” Rachel wailed.

“Okay, okay,” Noah snapped. “I got him.” That was how Kurt ended up over his shoulder, being carried through the threshold to his house.

Kurt took the time to pinch Noah on his side and tell him, “If you don’t put me down in the next two seconds I’m going to get Quinn and together we’re going to cast a spell on you that’s going to make no girl want to lay a hand on you for the next fifty years. Don’t test me, I saw it in Rachel’s book.”

Noah only grunted, but did drop him down onto the sofa in the drawing room. He told Kurt pointedly, “You scared the crap out of us. Don’t be such a little bitch. Let us baby you.”

Sebastian collapsed down next to Kurt breathing hard and any retort Kurt had readied for Noah, fell away in an instant. Instead Kurt was leaning over Sebastian, trying to feel for his temperature again, frowning in concern as he said, “You know you shouldn’t be out of bed. Please tell me you didn’t drive here.”

Sebastian’s head rolled towards him lethargicly. “Quinn drove me.”

“Good.” Sebastian’s bangs were a little wet, but Kurt carded his fingers through them anyway. He scratched idly at the boy’s scalp while everyone settled in.

“What happened to you?” Quinn asked, the first one to break to ice. “I think all of us got this horrible feeling inside, like something was wrong, but Puck--”

Noah leaned forward on the edge of the armchair he was seated at. “I felt it. I felt the magic. What was going on? One minute I was in bed, then next I was on my ass breathing hard. That’s how bad it was. It went from you to me and it was that strong.”

Kurt looked through the open doors of the room and out to the foyer. There were tiny cracks along the walls in certain places, and if he concentrated hard, he could still feel the echoes of magic in the whole house. The shattered glass from the front door would need to boarded up, too.

“It wasn’t me,” Kurt told them all, letting Sebastian rest against his shoulder. “There was a man.” He took a breath and started at the beginning.

It took a while to tell them everything. And he had to backtrack in places for things he’d forgotten, almost desperate to make sure that he said everything exactly as Cooper had. He left nothing out and repeated the things twice that needed to be. It seemed to leave everyone flabbergasted. 

“Heavy,” Noah said, leaning back to slum in the chair. “Very heavy.”

Voice calming, Quinn said, “I think our first order of business needs to be to make sure we keep each other safe. Pairs or twos or more at all times. We nee to be able to use our magic if one of these hunters comes around. Especially if they’re willing to kills us outright.”

Kurt asked a little accusing to Rachel, “You said binding the circle would be the best course of action for everyone. You, more than anyone else, wanted it to happen. You and Blaine. And now it’s gotten us into so much danger. Tell me you did a decent amount of research before getting on bored with the idea. You knew, right? That this could happen?”

Rachel looked a little helpless, her hair pulled up high and in her night clothes and bathrobe. “I knew it would keep us under control. I knew it would make us more powerful, too. But I did not know about the hunters. My book doesn’t even mention them.”

Blaine crossed his arms and assumed, “I think there’s a lot out there we don’t know about, and Rachel’s book can only tell us so much.”

Kurt thumbed towards the boxes of books in his foyer. “That’s my dad’s collection. Those books out there are hundreds of years old, and we may find some answers there. I’ll start going through them as soon as I can. Actually, I was thinking, my uncle is going to be back sooner, rather than later, and I need a safe place to keep all of these books. I was thinking the lighthouse? So that everyone could use the books and they be safe.”

Blaine shrugged. “Sounds like a good enough idea.”

“Do you think your father’s Book of Shadows is in one of these boxes?” Quinn asked. 

The question made Kurt feel horribly deceptive. These people in front of him were his circle. They’d saved him from Fischer and they’d been ready to do the same for him with Cooper. They watched his back, supported him, and they deserved to know he’d found the book ages ago. It was enough to make up his mind that the following day, once things settled down, he’d show them the book and tell them whatever he could.

“It’s late,” Kurt told them, glancing to the clock. “And I think we’re all a little worked up. You guys should go home now. Your parents are going to freak out if they catch you.” 

Rachel trotted out the door fairly easily, and Noah promised to help him start moving books the next day. But when Quinn tried to get Sebastian, who was dozing lightly, to his feet, Kurt told her, “Just leave him.”

She gave him a look. “You sure about that?”

“He’s sick.” He looked even worse than before. “I think he should crash here for the night. And last I checked, his mother was passed out at the café, so I don’t think she’s going to notice. I’ll take care of him, Quinn. But hey, could you go get Blaine and ask him to hang around for a second?”

While she went to catch Blaine before he could leave, Kurt let Sebastian lay down against the sofa before standing free.

“Kurt?” Blaine asked, head peeking around the corner.

“Blaine.” Kurt wondered how to say what he needed to. It was the only thing he’d left out and kept from the others. “There’s something I need to tell you. About the man who took me on that wonderful joyride.”

“Something you forgot to say earlier?”

Kurt shook his head. “Something just for you. The man, at first he tried to calm me down by saying that we were sort of like family, but I didn’t understand at the moment. He told me that twice. And then he said that he wanted me to tell you that he said hi. That Cooper said hello to you.”

“Cooper?” The color leeched out of Blaine’s face. “Are you sure that’s what his name was?”

“I’m sure. And he was powerful, Blaine. He was very strong. I thought it was my magic damaging the house when he forced me from it, but it was his. He was struggling to control me and the magic and some of it leaked out while he was distracted. So that coupled with the fact that he looks an awful lot like you, I’m kind of coming to my own conclusions here, but I’d like to hear it from you. I won’t tell the others if that’s what you want.”

“I …” Blaine seemed to be searching for the right words. “I haven’t seen Cooper in a long time. He’s my brother, Kurt. Older brother, obviously. He, uh, he left home a while ago. He said he was never coming back, ever, for any reason, and I believed him. For him to come back here after vowing that … he means serous business. He’s not lying about anything. He can’t be. Not if he came back.”

Kurt put a hand on his shoulder. “He kept telling me he had a stake in keeping my circle protected. He wanted me to know it was important to him, and he was willing to do whatever it took.”

Blaine nodded numbly. “He just didn’t want to see me, though. I get it.”

“Maybe he wasn’t ready.” Kurt squeezed his shoulder. “It looks like it took a lot for him to come here and say what he did. Give him a little time. He may have taken off, but he’ll stick close. He loves you. I could see by the way he was asking me to keep you safe. He loves you and he will be back.”

Quinn called through the front door, “Kurt? I’m heading out!”

“I should go,” Blaine said. “I’ll walk her to her car. See you tomorrow?”

Kurt closed the door behind him and then he was left with Sebastian. The teen was still sleeping in the drawing room, and it looked like he hadn’t moved a muscle.

“I could be mean,” Kurt told him, looking at Sebastian’s lanky form, “and just leave you here. But then you’d probably wake up in the morning and feel even worse than you do now. So I’m going to be nice, and when you’re well again, you’re going to appreciate it.”

Sebastian gave a groan of protest as Kurt pulled him up into a seated position. “Kurt?”

“I can’t carry you, you’re too heavy, so that means you have to work with me here. I can bear some of your weight, but you can’t just hang off me like you’re dead.” That meant getting Sebastian’s feet under him for the long trek up the stairs.

His uncle’s house was big, with four spacious bedrooms, but as far as Kurt knew only two of them were inhabitable. He’d been inside his uncle’s bedroom once, and while it was all done up, it wasn’t a good idea to stick Sebastian in there. It didn’t feel right. But two of the other rooms were filled with boxes and bare mattresses and probably hadn’t been used in ten or so years. So that left Kurt’s room.

Sebastian was never going to let him live it down.

“Where are we going?” Sebastian asked, legs bowing out under him.

Kurt hefted him high by the waist and huffed out a long breath. “I’m taking you up to bed, but you weigh a lot more than I expected, so it’s going a little slow. Also, please do not knock us down the stairs. I do want to live long enough to figure out what’s going on.”

When Kurt finally got Sebastian up the stairs and down the hall to his bedroom, the door opened to reveal Knight was sleeping perfectly fine on his doggy bed in the corner. It was a breath of relief for Kurt who’d worried something had happened to him, despite Cooper promising he was okay.

“Come on, Sebastian. Just a little further.”

Kurt might have accidentally dropped Sebastian on his bed, but in his defense, he was tired and his arms were burning.

“Where are we?” Sebastian asked again, eyes hazy with fever.

“You,” Kurt promised, “as somewhere safe.” He helped Sebastian slide under clean sheets and tucked him in under warm blankets. “It was stupid for you to come here. You shouldn’t have even gotten out of bed. I was fine.”

“Puck said,” Sebastian breathed out, “you were gone. And my chest hurt. I knew … I could feel it. You were scared. I had to.”

“I was scared, but I wasn’t in trouble.” Kurt went to the bathroom to get him a glass of water. 

Hand shaking, Sebastian took the water and sipped it gently. “I had to.”

“You could get more sick, going from your bed, to outside, and back to a bed. The change in temperature alone--”

“I knew you were in trouble,” Sebastian said gruffly, even though Kurt had already said he wasn’t. 

Kurt sat next to him on the bed. “That man wouldn’t have hurt me.”

At that statement Sebastian focused on his face for a moment, then reached a hand up to the wound at his hairline. “You’re hurt. That son of a bitch did hurt you. I’m going to kill him.”

“Hey now.” Kurt caught his wrist and brought it down gently. “This, if you must know, was an accident. He didn’t mean to, and I don’t hold it again him. I’m perfectly fine, too. I don’t even knee stitches. So don’t get yourself all worked up for nothing. You need to rest.”

Looking mad, Sebastian said, “I should have been here.”

“You were sick at home,” Kurt pointed out.

“I should have--”

Kurt shushed him. “You should go to bed. That’s what you should do. You still have a fever. I can feel it. And obviously you’re dizzy from the way you swayed on the way up. So I want you to get some rest if you want to have a chance in hell of going to school in eight hours. As it is, I don’t think it’s going to happen, but we can try.”

At Kurt’s words Sebastian started to settle down, only one more drink of water necessary.

“I’m going to crash downstairs,” Kurt told him. There was a large, extremely looking comfortable armchair in the study. Kurt was sure with a blanket and a pillow he’d sleep just fine. “But the walls are like paper here. You can call if you need me. I’ll come.”

Sebastian seemed to recognize where he was for the first time. “This is your room.”

“You’ve never been here before, but yes, it’s my room.”

“This is your bed,” Sebastian said pointedly.

Kurt had a feeling he knew exactly where this was going, but still he said, “Yes, it’s my bed. It’s the only place to put you for the moment, but the sheets are clean, the mattress is comfortable and I think once you stop talking, you’re going to crash right away.”

A deep chuckle came from Sebastian. “I knew I’d get into your bed eventually.”

“Pity I’m not in it then.”

Kurt paused to grab a pillow and blanket from the closet hallway and then headed downstairs. He felt a little paranoid, checking all of the doors and windows, but for as little of a threat as Cooper had turned out to be, he had set Kurt on edge. He wanted to be extra careful, especially with Sebastian in the house and unable to look after himself.

He was yawning hard by the time he was sure everything was locked down. He had half a mind to try and figure out how he was going to fix the magic induced cracks in the plaster hallway of the foyer, but sleepiness was making it hard to think, and it was best left to morning.

He probably would have gone right to sleep if he hadn’t seen the envelope on the floor, next to one of the boxes of books.

Kurt had forgotten completely about the envelope he’d pulled from the book the other day. He’d always meant to go back and see what was in it, but then he’d needed to hurry to work, and the mess with Cooper had made it slip his mind completely. But now he could see it, white again the dark wood floors of the house, waiting for him. And he was oddly drawn to it. Compelled to it.

There was nothing written on the top, and like before, he felt the cardstock and thought it was exceptionally thick. Old probably. Envelopes weren’t made as thick anymore. Neither was it sealed. The top portion had only been tucked into the bottom and it was easy to open it.

There was a letter inside, short and not long, written in bulky letters with an uneven script that had a tendency to bunch up in places and slide uneven in others. 

This was his father’s handwriting, and the letter was addressed to Kurt.

He couldn’t even read it at first. His eyes welled up with unwanted tears and even blinking them away wouldn’t clear his vision. And then, when the tears were under control, he could barely stand to hold the letter. He wanted to pretend like he’d never seen it, or that it would go away if he didn’t look at it. Because it was too hard to think about. Too much hurt was associated with the fact that his father had had foresight enough to write him a letter fifteen or sixteen years ago.

“Kurt,” he read aloud. His voice was shaking, but he couldn’t bear to keep the words inside. “If you are reading this then I’m dead. I’m sorry.”

Kurt had to stop. He had to stop and breathe and fight for his legs to stay under him.

He could finally continued, “I never wanted you to read these words. I never wanted you to know what you must by now, and get dragged into it all. I took you away to save you. I wanted to protect you from what killed your mother, and what could kill you. You might hate me for it, but it was the only thing I could think to do.”

Something had killed his mother. There it was. She hadn’t just had an accident on a boat. Something had killed her, and probably all of the people she’d been with. And his father had been scared enough to think that the same thing that killed her, would come after him, too. Maybe it was part of what Cooper had been warning him against. 

There was one paragraph to the letter left, and he read it with resolve. “No matter what you hear, Kurt, about me or your mom, you should know that we loved each other. I loved her very much, and she loved you more than you will ever imagine. At least not until you’re a parent. She died to protect you, and I hope I did to. But more than that, I hope you realize your strengths around you, and your enemies for who they are. You can trust your family. You can trust your circle, and if you haven’t bound yourself yet, under no circumstances do it. Watch after yourself, Kurt, and watch after the people who care about you. And never forget you are loved.”

Kurt felt like such an idiot. He shouldn’t have rushed to bind the circle. He could have been patient. He would have found the books eventually and if he had, there would have been time to heed his father’s warning.

He folded the letter carefully and set it back in the envelope, promising, “It’s too late to unbind the circle, dad, but I’m going to protect it. You don’t have anything to worry about.”

With a heavy heart Kurt looked upward, for once daring to hope that maybe heaven was real, and if he were lucky, his dad might be watching over him.

When Sebastian was gone the next morning Kurt planned to hide the letter away in his father’s secret place, but for now it went back in the book it had been plucked from. When that was done, Kurt paused to look at the book itself.

He mumbled aloud, “Demons?” It was a book on demons. Had his father placed the letter directly into that book with a purpose, or had it just been the book on top? In any case, the idea of demons scared him senseless. He didn’t like to think such things existed, though neither had he believed in witches a month earlier. 

With a shake to his head Kurt trudged back up the stairs to poke his head in on Sebastian. He was happy to see his friend had rolled to his side and was holding one of Kurt’s pillows tightly to his chest. There was plenty of room on the bed to fit another warm body, and for a second Kurt entertained the idea of joining him. But then he realized it was wildly inappropriate and Sebastian already had enough ammunition to work with.

Kurt caught Noah’s form in the window across the way and raised a hand. When Noah waved back, proving he was okay, Kurt felt it was the last thing he’d needed to be sure of before going to bed.

Noah leaned down and opened is window, and with another look to Sebastian, Kurt moved to open his own.

“I hear you have Smythe in your bed.”

“Goodnight, Noah,” Kurt told him pointedly. “He’s just sleeping, like you should be.”

Noah gave a laugh before doing as Kurt said, pushing his window closed and pulling his blinds.

“Goodnight, Sebastian,” Kurt told the sleeping teen, and hit the lights on his way out.

Like he had decided he settled into the arm chair in the study and Kurt pulled his blanket up high to his chin. He’d been sleepy moment earlier, but something about finding his father’s letter had revitalized him. It had gotten his mind working against him, and he wanted to go read it again.

Eventually he closed his eyes and kept them closed long enough to actually fall asleep. He dreamed of his father then, of being little and playing the piano for his father who was wet in the eyes and so happy. It was the best dream Kurt had had in years.


	10. Chapter 10

Kurt woke up to the feeing of being touched and a strange beep. It was enough to startle him awake in a second, which he regretted soon after with a groan of pain the moment he opened his eyes.

“Morning, Sleeping Beauty.”

Kurt pushed at Sebastian. “You have terrible nurturing skills. Go away.”

“I can’t do that.” Something cold pressed into Kurt’s ear again and a beep followed. “You’re lucky to have caught my cold. You’re at one-oh-one. I don’t think you’re going to school today.”

Kurt buried his face into his pillow. “I think I’m dying.”

Sebastian laughed loudly and Kurt swatted at him for the sound.

“You’re not dying, sweet cakes. You have a fever and it’s probably a head cold. That’s what happens when you insist on taking care of someone who’s sick. You got my cold germs. Lucky you.” Sebastian pulled the curtains to the large study’s window closed and said, “It’s safe to open your eyes now.”

Kurt peeked out slowly, and then sniffled, tugging his blanket further up his shoulders. “I still think I’m dying.”

Sebastian crouched down next to him. “You don’t get sick much, do you?”

“No.” Kurt shook his head. He’d always been a remarkably healthy kid, and even more so as a teenager. On the rare occasion that he had been sick, his father had always taken off work, and always been there to make him soup, which was probably the only thing Kurt could remember his father being able to make without setting something on fire. “This is terrible.”

“Come on.” Sebastian reached a hand down for Kurt. “We’ll get you up to bed and then you can sleep it off. I promise you, you aren’t dying, you’re going to be okay, and you really, really aren’t going to want to hear this, but you’re flushed right now and it makes you look damn sexy.”

Kurt gave him his most scathing glare. “Keep it in your pants.”

“I was in your bed last night,” Sebastian pointed out. “We can go for round two today.”

“I can manage on my own, then.” 

Kurt tried to get up from the recliner. Only his foot got stuck on his blanket and his balance was shot already. He stood too quickly, his head swam and he was toppling down before he could stop himself.

But Sebastian was there, hooking an arm around his waist and keeping him upright. “Woah, there,” he said, “try not to nosedive, okay? I’m not going to be here to catch you every time. Though we could probably work out some kind of arrangement.”

“Let go of me,” Kurt snapped pushing away from him. “And stop being so dapper. You still feel warm. I know you’re still sick. How can you be so uppity and be sick at the same time?”

Sebastian shrugged. “So I get nicer when I’m sick. What of it? You get mean when you’re sick.”

With a sigh Kurt pressed a hand to forehead. “Sorry. I’m sorry. I shouldn’t snap at you. You’re only trying to help. It’s not your fault you’re no good at it.”

Once more, Sebastian’s hand came down to Kurt for assistance. “Well, you spend most of your life getting sick, but not having anyone to take care of you, and you can’t blame a guy for not knowing what to do.”

“Sorry,” Kurt mumbled, and let Sebastian pull him up, steady him, and keep him standing. “For being mean and for that.”

Sebastian helped him get up the stairs to his room, and settled into bed. The teen pulled the curtains in the room and then fetched Kurt a clean glass of water, saying, “I feel fine, actually. And I’ve been sick enough to know when it’s passing. So we’re going to concentrate on you now.”

“I shouldn’t be in bed,” Kurt protested. “I have a math quiz today. And we’re supposed to be practicing for our performance. And I promised Quinn I’d help her with some photography today.”

“You can barely stand up on your own,” Sebastian told him. “I think all of that can wait.”

The fact was, he did feel sick to his stomach. His head was pounding, the dizziness hadn’t really gone away even though he was laying down, and Kurt absolutely hated the way he felt like he might throw up at any second. No matter how much he wanted to, he knew there was no way he could get to school and stay long enough to learn anything. Sebastian was right.

Kurt urged, “It’s not to late for you to go.” The clock across the room said it was twenty to eight. “You might be a little late, but you can go now.”

Sebastian looked like he hated the idea. “And who’s going to take care of you? Your uncle? Oh, wait, he’s in Seattle.”

Kurt pointed a shaking finger to the window. “Noah is right next door if I need something. He’s usually there all morning and into the afternoon. I think his grandmother needs help in the morning especially.”

“I’m sure he’d be all too happy to saunter right over here and help himself into your bed,” Sebastian said.

“Are you serious?” Kurt blinked at him. “You must not be, because that would be ridiculous and ignorant and did I mention ridiculous?”

Sebastian looked away, face pinched.

“You should go,” Kurt told him.

“You want me to?” Sebastian asked. He stood and surveyed the room in a distracted way. “Because if you want that, then I’ll go. But I think--”

Kurt wasn’t really sure what had happened. All he knew was that Sebastian’s voice was soothing to him in that moment. It was soothing enough for him to lose himself in his mattress and the warmth of his blankets and to fall back asleep without meaning to. That was all he knew, and then he was out.

He woke up some time later with a burning bladder and stumbled his way to the bathroom. His room was blissfully empty and silent, and he half thought he was alone in the house until he heard a thump from downstairs and a cry of pain.

His head was feeling a little better, the extra sleep seemed to have helped, so Kurt slowly inched his way out of his room, down the hallway, and to the banister. He called out, “Sebastian? Is that you?”

Heavy footsteps sounded on the stairs and Sebastian appeared in front of him, a little out of breath and mostly red in the face, but with a hopeful expression. “How are you feeling? Should you be out of bed yet?”

“I’m okay,” Kurt said, a hand on the banister. “But a few painkillers would be great.”

Getting that squared away was easy enough, and it wasn’t long before Sebastian was insisting on making them lunch. “I can make sandwiches,” Sebastian said confidently. “I hope that’s okay.”

Kurt sat himself down at the island bar’s stool and leaned easily on his palm. “Sounds great. But we can order in if you’re not feeling that well. My uncle did leave me some spending money, even though I told him I didn’t need it. I haven’t touched it yet, but he’ll be home soon, I think he’ll be disappointed if he sees I didn’t use it. He likes to take care of me.”

“I think you should stick to sandwiches. Trust me. When you’re sick there isn’t a lot your stomach can handle. I know this personally.” Sebastian retrieved the ingredients from the refrigerator and said, “You’re really lucky, I hope you know. Having your uncle, I mean.”

“That’s for sure.” Kurt accepted a glass of orange juice from Sebastian. 

Their lunch of simple sandwiches was shared in comfortable silence, with Kurt feeling stronger by the minute and Sebastian almost looking healthy again.

“I want to show you something,” Kurt said when their dishes were in the sink. The aspirin was beginning to take hold of him and he felt strong enough make the trip back upstairs.

Sebastian helped him anyway, with one hand at Kurt’s hip and the other guiding them along with the wall as a brace. They were tucked close together and Kurt savored the feeling.

“I wanted to show you this yesterday,” Kurt explained. “I brought it with me to the café before I knew you were out sick. It’s over there on my desk.” Kurt eased himself down onto his bed as he pointed.

He knew the moment Sebastian saw the photo, because the whole teen seemed to light up as he exclaimed, “This is amazing!”

“I found it a while ago,” Kurt said with a grin. “I just kept forgetting. I’m going to get around to making copies for everyone. I take it you’ll want one?”

“Of course.” Sebastian turned the picture around so Kurt could see it properly. “You know this is my dad, right? This guy here.”

Kurt patted the spot next to him on the bed. “I know. I showed the picture to your mother.”

“I don’t have a lot of pictures of him,” Sebastian said softly, unable to draw his eyes from the photo. “I used to think it was because it was too painful for my mom. That’s when I was a kid and I was stupid.”

“Sebastian?”

Sebastian pointed at his father. “Look how much he loved her. He was just this helpless dork, you know. He loved chess. He was senior class president. And the way I hear it, up until high school he had a horrible stutter. So my mom was way out of his league. He knew it, too, so when she wanted him to be her rebound guy, he didn’t think twice. He didn’t care that he was that guy, the rebound. He just took what he could get. Because he was no Burt Hummel, but she was still giving him a shot.”

That seemed a horrible thing to say, and Kurt argued, “I’m sure she--”

“Loved him?” Sebastian asked. “Unlikely. The only man my mother ever loved was your father. But I hope she at least cared for him. She did mourn him when he died. Just don’t think for a second that she loved him like your dad and mom loved each other.”

Kurt looked closer at the picture, and the odd thing was, once Sebastian had pointed it out, Kurt could see it. He could see the way his parents were completely wrapped up in each other, as if there wasn’t anyone else even there in the photograph. But Sebastian’s parents were different. There was an odd sort of distance between them. 

Sebastian rushed to say, “I still want the picture, though.”

“Of course.” Kurt let him hand onto the picture as he stood. “There’s something else, too.”

He didn’t care that Sebastian was watching, or that he knew where Kurt’s father’s secret hiding place was. He made no attempt to shield what he was doing as he pulled back the books blocking the spot and then reached back in for the book.

“Is that what I think that is?” Sebastian asked, nearly running the distance between them.

“I didn’t say anything because … well, I’m not sure why. Maybe I just wanted to be selfish for a while. But I’ve had it for a while, and I’ve looked through it, and if none of this had started happening, with Cooper and Fischer and everyone else, I might have kept it hidden. But we need it now. We need all the help we can get, and I’m sorry I kept it a secret for so long.”

With some bit of certainty Kurt put his family’s Book of Shadows into Sebastian’s hands. “This is my book. We’ve gotten so much from Rachel’s book that I’m hoping this will help even more.”

Sebastian opened it gingerly, turning the pages with reverent care. “You do realize yours is much bigger than Berry’s?”

“I noticed,” Kurt agreed. In fact his was nearly twice the volume size as hers, filled with much more in terms of bloodlines. “This book seems to be geared towards the more historic aspects of the Hummel family. Rachel’s certainly has more rituals and spells.”

“I wonder what mines has.” Sebastian closed the book and handed it over to Kurt. “I’ve looked, you know. For a while now. I tore my house upside down one weekened when my mom was out of town. I don’t think it’s there. Either she moved it to keep me from finding it, or it got lost over the years.”

“I wouldn’t be surprised if a lot of parents hid their books. I told you that Cooper told me about the council of elders taking your parent’s magic away, right? So it wouldn’t be such a shock if they hid the books to try and protect our circle. At least from making the same kind of mistakes.”

Sebastian frowned. “But whatever they did to warrant getting their magic taken away, we’d never do that.”

“How can you say for sure?” Kurt didn’t think there was a way for them to know anything for certain. “I don’t think our parents would have hurt anyone on purpose. They were good people and they loved each other. But an accident did happen and lots of people died. We could make the same mistakes without even knowing it. We could get someone killed. That’s a possibility every day that we have magic.”

Sebastian ran a hand through his bangs. “We bound our circle. Our parents didn’t. That’s the difference. They couldn’t control themselves. They didn’t have each other to answer to. We’re a bound circle. We need each other like they didn’t, and that makes us closer. That makes us safer.”

The room was lowly lit, the curtains still pulled, and the only light source coming from the shaded lamp across the room. Kurt used the muted light reach over and take Sebastian’s hand. “We’re going to do better. We may not know about all their mistakes, and we might make them, but we’re going to keep each other safe. Cooper said it’s my responsibility to make that happen and I’m swearing to you now, I will keep you all safe. I’ll do whatever it takes.”

Sebastian’s head tipped towards Kurt as he said, “I don’t care what Cooper said. I don’t care. It’s not your sole responsibility. We’re not helpless children and you don’t need to take that kind of pressure on, especially sine we don’t know what could happen in the future.”

“Then why does it feel that way?” Kurt wondered. “Like I’m meant to keep the circle together?”

“Then you promise me something.”

“Hm?” Kurt prompted. “What’s that?”

Sebastian squeezed his hand back. “You let us protect you in return. You let me keep you just as safe as you’re determined to do for me.”

Kurt gave a dry laugh. “I don’t think it’s supposed to work like that.”

“I do.” Sebastian pressed in even closer. “You’re too important to me for any other kind of agreement. You let me protect you, or I won’t let you protect me.”

Kurt said, “Okay,” feeling faint again. “But only because you’re so stubborn.”

“No. Because we’re a circle, and it’s what we’re supposed to do for each other. Instinctively. Without thought. It’s the way thing are supposed to be.”

Kurt could feel Sebastian’s pulse as their wrists pressed together. It was faster than Kurt would have expected, and it betrayed the calm look on Sebastian’s face. 

“I thought you didn’t like things to play out as they’re supposed to. Something about fate?”

“That’s different,” Sebastian urged. “This is your life we’re talking about, and I’m not going to let anyone or anything threaten it. That’s just not going to happen.” Sebastian’s free hand reached up to gently brush against the cut on Kurt’s forehead. “I’m never going to let you get hurt again.”

Kurt tried not to lean into the touch. “You can’t predict the future.”

“Then I’m going to try my hardest, and god help anyone who tries it.” Sebastian’s fingers slid down his face to cup his jaw. “Because I’ll rip anyone who dares to hurt you into a million pieces. Without magic.”

“I don’t want that on you conscience,” Kurt whispered to him.

Sebastian shook his head. “I couldn’t have you being hurt on mine.”

Kurt’s eyes were burning, and he didn’t know why. Not until he felt the wetness slide free and Sebastian’s thumb was wiping the tear away. “Sorry,” Kurt apologized. “I don’t know what’s wrong.”

“Fate be damned,” Sebastian swore, and before Kurt could ask him what he meant, they were kissing.

It was, like Adam’s kiss had been, nothing more than chaste in nature. There was the barest hint of pressure, and Sebastian couldn’t be accused of pressuring him for anything more, but it was a burst of pleasure in Kurt’s belly that had him leaning in for more. It probably shouldn’t have been as good as it was, with neither of them having brushed their teeth in forever, and the circumstances surrounding it, but Kurt wouldn’t have taken it back for anything in the world. It felt absolutely perfect and more tears came from happiness.

“Are you okay?” Sebastian’s asked, drawing back only a hair’s distance. “Did I overstep?”

“I don’t know,” Kurt laughed out. “But I liked it. You could do it again.”

Sebastian did. His hand gripped Kurt more firmly and the next time their lips met there was more intensity and certainly more ferocity. 

The doorbell ringing startled them both. 

“Ignore it,” Sebastian urged, his hand having slid down to Kurt’s neck where he stroked the skin idly. “They’ll go away, and I think we’re busy.”

The doorbell rang again, and then a third time and Kurt pulled away. He waited for a pause, then several more chimes came, and Kurt said, “I can’t. That’s Noah.”

Sebastian made a face. “How can you know that?”

Kurt stood awkwardly, feeling properly kissed with his lips tingling. “Because only he has that kind of awful timing and could be that obnoxious with a doorbell. Plus, he’s rang before that way.”

“I’m going to kill him,” Sebastian decided. Then he snagged Kurt’s hand and pulled him along, saying, “Come try to stop me from killing him.”

Kurt grinned goofily and followed after.

They had to pass through the foyer to get to the front door, and that meant passing by the boxes of books, and that was when Kurt noticed that some of the books were spread out on the ground.

“Is this what you were doing earlier?” Kurt asked as they walked by.

Sebastian said bashfully, “I woke you when I dropped a couple on the ground. I just wanted to sort through them. I hope you know you’ve got some very questionable material there.”

Kurt thought back to the books on demons. “I saw.”

Noah nearly burst through the door, demanding, “You weren’t at school today, and you never pull your curtains.”

“You spend a lot of time looking through his window?” Sebastian questioned.

Kurt rolled his eyes. “How would you know I didn’t go to school today?”

Noah looked at him like he was stupid. “Because your truck is still in the driveway, and because Quinn called me during her lunch break and told me to come check on you.”

“It’s almost two in the afternoon,” Sebastian pointed out. “Good job.”

“Fuck off,” Noah told him. “What crawled up your ass?”

“Boys.” Kurt pushed between them. “Turn down the testosterone, please, before I kick you both out. Noah, don’t give me that wounded puppy look. Sebastian, stop acting like you haven’t tried that look on me before.”

Noah asked suspiciously, “What’s he even doing here?”

Not that Kurt really thought it was any of Noah’s business, but he reminded him anyway of how Sebastian had been too sick the night before for Kurt to let him go, and how whatever Sebastian had, Kurt had caught at least some form of it. “I slept all morning long,” Kurt told him. “I still feel pretty bad, but it’s better than before. Don’t tell me you came running over here just to ask about that.”

“No.” Noah shook his head almost wildly and held up a worn looking book. “I came over because of this. Feast your eyes on this bad boy and yes, it is exactly what you think it is.”

Kurt reached for it tentatively. “You found your book?”

Noah smacked it down into Kurt’s hands. “Hidden in my grandma’s liquor cabinet. Can you believe that? Right under my nose the whole time, behind a couple bottles of bourbon.”

Sebastian crossed his arms and demanded, “And you just miraculously found it now, instead of a week ago? Or a month?”

Noah cut him a seething look. “Actually, I was throwing out my grandma’s alcohol. She got plastered last night while all of our circle mess was happening, and nearly drank herself into a state of alcohol poisoning. So I’ve been cleaning house today. Figures she’d stash it in the last place she knew I’d look.”

There was a moment there when Kurt realized he could either simply be happy for Noah, or he could share with him that he had is own book. If he decide not to bring up his own book, he knew instinctively that Sebastian wouldn’t say anything. He didn’t know how he knew, but he could practically feel Sebastian’s loyalty. Nothing would be said about the Hummel Book of Shadows unless Kurt wanted it to be.

Kurt placed the book back in Noah’s hands and said, “I wasn’t lying about still feeling bad. I want to go lay back down. I think this whole day is a bust for me, and Sebastian isn’t a hundred percent either, no matter how much he’s trying to act like he is now.

Sebastian did not look pleased at Kurt.

“But,” Kurt continued, “I think we need to get the circle together soon. Because we have Rachel’s book, and we have your book and we have mine. I have it.”

Noah wrangled Kurt up into a strong hug and said, “Shit, that’s great!”

Sebastian cleared his throat. “He’s still sick. Try not to manhandle him.”

Noah ignored him and told Kurt, “With all the shit that’s going down right now, I feel like this is the first good thing to happen in a while. Maybe we’ll get some answers with these books, or at least stronger. Who knows.”

It took some more pushing, albeit the gentle kind, for Kurt to get Noah out of the door. And then he turned to Sebastian and said, “You might think about getting home, too, just in case your mother is there. And I know you trust your assistant manager down at the café, but it never hurts to check in. If you’re feeling better.”

This time there was a little bit of hesitancy as Sebastian leaned over to press a light kiss to Kurt’s mouth. “Sounds like you’re trying to get rid of me.”

“No.” Kurt smiled at him. “Not at all.”

“Okay. But you’re right. I guess.”

There was an elephant in the room that seemed to have blossomed in a split second without Kurt realizing it, and it made him anxious and worried all at once. It was enough for him to catch Sebastian by the arm before he set out for the moderate walk down to where Quinn lived. Kurt knew she’d be home from school shortly and be ready to give Sebastian a ride back to his place.

“Sebastian.”

“Why do you look like I just dropkicked your dog?”

Speaking of, Kurt could see that Knight was lounging around playfully in the living room just to right of their position, and he did recall seeing that Knight’s bowl of water and food had been filled. It was the kind of unasked action from Sebastian that made him even more attractive.

“You kissed me. Earlier. And then again, just now.”

Sebastian’s eyebrows lifted. “Because you’re hot.”

“So …” Kurt didn’t know what to say. Or how to say anything at all. He felt completely lost. “Well … that means something. That makes us something.”

A serious look settled on Sebastian’s face. “I don’t do relationships.”

It was Kurt’s fear being played out in front of him. “But I thought--”

“I was honest and clear with you from the beginning,” Sebastian said. “I thought you understood. I’m not interested in having a relationship.”

“Only a fling,” Kurt said, trying terribly hard not to let the hurt show on his face. “And that’s fine for everyone else in the world, but you and I, we’re special. I can feel it, and I know you can to. We’re different.”

Sebastian had nothing to say.

“You just want in my pants?” Kurt asked, uncertain.

“No,” Sebastian denied venomously. 

“Then what? Because you’re not being clear and you really need to be on this subject. Is this about us being fated? About you thinking you don’t have a choice? We’re drawn together, that’s for certain, and I promise you, it’s not because we’re supposed to be.”

“You don’t know that,” Sebastian said flatly. 

It was time to stand his ground, no matter how handsome Sebastian was, or how interesting or compelling. Kurt had to tell him, “I know that you’re scared to be out of control, but I need to you to decide some things for me. Because I’m here, and I like you, and I want to take a chance on us. But I’m not going to do a fling. I’m only interested in a relationship that stands a chance, and that means you putting yourself fully into it. So I think you should go and think and that’s all.”

There were no words between them, not until Sebastian gave him a firm nod and said, “Don’t come to work today. You’re not even close enough to being okay for that.”

“Goodbye, Sebastian.”

When the teen was through the door Kurt wandered his way back to the living room where Knight was rolling around on the ground. He flung himself face down onto the sofa and groaned into the cushion. He didn’t know why things couldn’t ever be simple.

Half an hour later he had dragged himself up to his room, his headache was back like a sledgehammer and he pulled the small trashcan from his bathroom with him just in case. He’d known the day was going to be bad right from the start, and some times he just hated being right.

The next few days were a blur for both Kurt and his circle. If he’d had his choice he would have spent them holed up in the lighthouse, trying to uncover a bigger picture that he knew was lurking just out of reach. Instead his days were filled with school and work and more school. February was bleeding away fast enough and March would hold midterms. 

Rachel was anxious to get a hold of his book, and Noah’s, but like her, they’d both become overprotective of the family heirlooms. Their mutual stubbornness held up everything and made it easy to find distractions.

But eventually there was time to examine the three books. They all crouched around the three books placed in a row and every page was carefully turned. There were thousands of spells to try, and a plethora of information that Kurt knew would keep them busy forever. And that didn’t even include the things that were contained in the books that Noah had helped him drag to the lighthouse a day earlier. 

It was Quinn who first noticed something peculiar. She ran her finger along one page on Kurt’s book and then cross referenced it in Rachel’s. She asked, “Do you guys realized these books are talking about the same thing? Look, it’s in Puck’s too.”

Kurt’s head cocked. “What do you mean?”

Rachel butted in between all of them, eyes scanning for a minute before saying, “Something called the Great Betrayal.”

“Yeah,” Noah butted in. “She’s right. These three are all talking about the same thing. They use the same term, but dude, look at mine. Whoever wrote mine was pissed about it.”

Kurt’s eyes reread a bit of his own. “Mine seems sad.” The words in his book seemed to be bleed sorrow, but Noah’s were certainly angry.

“My book is definitely warning against the betrayers. So mine is more cautionary?” Rachel asked with a shrug.

They might have been referencing the same event, but the more Kurt looked, the less he thought there was a consensus about the actual thing. And no consistency of information. There was nothing but a paragraph in Kurt’s book, followed by what looked like an incantation and blotted out mess further down. Noah’s was longer, but not by much, and Rachel’s filled the entire book page, but sounded more biblical than anything else.

“Beware the Great Betrayal from within,” Quinn read from Rachel’s book. “That doesn’t sound good.”

Blaine pointed out, “All of these books have this towards the back, so I think it’s safe it didn’t happen a million years ago. Maybe much more recent.”

Across the room Sebastian’s eyes narrowed and he said, “You mean you think this is what happened to our parents?”

Rachel said, “My book mentions the consequences. It says that in the end the heart was lost.” She made a face. “I’ve heard magic called the heart of witches before. It’s at the beginning of my book.”

Noah flipped his pages. “I don’t have anything about consequences. Actually, I’ve got a lot of whining about what could have been and the strength before the coming. Whatever the coming was.”

Flatly, Sebastian said, “So clearly there’s a bigger picture here. And we have some of the pieces, but not all of them.”

Blaine begged the question, “Why wouldn’t our parents just write it out in simple form if it was them? Why all of these cryptic phrases and things that seem like gibberish? They don’t ever say what the Great Betrayal was, but they could have. Why not?”

Kurt shrugged. “Maybe someone does, just not in these books. We need the others. I think that much is certain.” In fact he had a hunch that when all six books were together the picture would be so clear it wouldn’t even need to be thought out.

“So,” Blaine assumed, “find the books?”

“Find the books,” Kurt agreed. “And fast, because I don’t think we have much time.”

“Why not?” Sebastian asked. He moved closer, but kept a distance from Kurt that seemed horribly obvious.

Kurt understood, though. Sebastian was still thinking. He was still deciding, and Kurt was trying to be patient. He knew something like a relationship would be huge for Sebastian, considering how he’d run from them in the past, and Kurt wanted him to be certain before he committed to anything. The awkward wait was still difficult, however.

Kurt gave him a grimace. “Because I know my father’s handwriting. I know he wrote this, and whatever this Great Betrayal was, it’s going to happen again. At least if this is to be believed.”

Quinn shook her head. “Where does it say that?”

Kurt pointed down to the part that was blotted out. “Here. He wrote a warning to me personally here. I know it. I can see a K still, and it’s curved the way my father used to write my name. He started doing it when I was learning cursive to make it fun. He only ever did it with the K in my name. I never knew anyone else who wrote their K like that.” 

Kurt glanced at the page again. There was a warning that was clear at the top of the page. One that said the resolution of the Great Betrayal had been frailly constructed at best, and doomed to fail. Not only fail but repeat. 

“You can’t get that from something you can’t read,” Rachel said stubbornly.

“I bet I can. And I bet you anything my father wrote something more down here to me. Look, up here it says that whatever ended the Great Betrayal wasn’t meant to last, more like be a quick fix of sorts. But down here I think my father wrote me a second warning. I know this was meant for me, but maybe he changed his mind, or something happened and he had to cover it up. I don’t know. But if we could see it I know we’d know more. A lot more.”

They came up with the same solution each and every time, that the rest of the circle’s books had to be found, and quickly at that.

“I can look again,” Sebastian said wearily, “but I don’t think I’m going to find anything this time that I didn’t the past hundred times I looked.”

“It couldn’t hurt,” Kurt urged softly. 

Sebastian only gave him a firm nod.

They agreed, for the sake of easy access, that they’d leave the books at the lighthouse, and it was difficult, but Kurt knew it was the right thing to do. Kurt went home empty handed that night and he would have given anything to see the message that had been blotted out, or to know how something called the Great Betrayal was connected to their parents. Or their accident.

His Uncle Andy came home the following day and it was a relief to Kurt. He met the man at the door with a hug that felt like he’d been doing it for years.

“I didn’t expect this big of a welcoming!” his uncle laughed, hugging Kurt tightly.

“I’m just happy you’re home,” Kurt said, face pressed into the tall man’s shoulder. “I really missed you.” He hadn’t realized how much until that moment. 

The tension and pressure on Kurt lifted a bit when his uncle came home. He had someone to lean on again, even if he couldn’t really share anything with his uncle. It made getting up in the morning a bit easier.

Before Kurt knew it February was ending and there were decorations streaming around the school for the upcoming dance. Tina, looking as if she’d never been anything but one hundred percent healthy, told Kurt, “It’s the tradition around here. The end of winter dance. The timing isn’t perfect, but we always have a dance around the time winter ends and we move into spring. We call it the Spring Fling, and like most of the school functions around here, it’s a big deal.”

Kurt assured her, “I’m sure it’s going to be wonderful if you’re planning it. You are, right?”

She gave him a firm nod. “Of course. Do you really think I’d trust something like this to anyone else? But I am looking for help on the decorations and organization committee.”

Kurt took a firm step back. “I’ve got more than enough on my plate right now. Sorry, Tina.”

She shrugged. “I had to try. Maybe I can count on you for prom?”

“I’m only a sophomore,” he reminded. “I don’t get to go to prom.”

A smile pulled at Tina’s face and her eyes jerked across the way to where Adam could be seen talking with a few of his friends. “You do if your date is an upperclassmen. Like a senior. A very hot, very British senior.”

“After what happened last time he tried to take me out? Who knows if that’ll ever happen again.” The thing was, wherever Kurt was with Sebastian, stuck in relationship limbo, Kurt was in the same place with Adam. They hadn’t gone out again, but neither had Adam been avoiding him. It seemed like everyone was determined to give each other the space they needed, and Kurt really appreciated that Adam was willing to do that for him.

Tina said, “You never know. Everyone knows going to the dance is about who you show up with, and how good they look. That guy would be crazy if he didn’t want to show you off.”

Kurt choked back a laugh. “Showing up with me wouldn’t be the problem, Tina. Getting me to stick it through to the entire night would probably be another.” With this luck there’d be an evil circle of witches to do battle with right in the middle of the dance if he went with Adam.

“Keep an open mind,” Tina urged. “I have it on good authority from Mike that Adam is still crazy about you.” Kurt wondered why that didn’t make him feel great at all.

However, like Tina had said, by the beginning of the next week Adam cornered Kurt at his locker and said, “So I’ve been hearing that this dance is something special. Have you, by chance, seen the advertisements for it?”

The charm was just oozing off Adam and Kurt could barely take it. “I have,” he said with a smile. “It might be hard not to, with all the posters and streamers Tina put up everywhere. And from what I hear, this dance is the end of winter dance. For a place like Washington, that has to be a relief.”

Adam reached into his pocket and pulled out two tickets. “Tina absolutely insisted that I buy tickets to the dance, even though I didn’t have a date at the time. I did, obviously, if only to put her at ease, and now I’d very much like to find a date to said dance.”

“Adam,” Kurt said with a sigh. “I know you remember the way I ran out on you on our last date. Not my best moment.”

Adam grinned. “I went on my first date with a chap who I’d been pinning away over for months,” he revealed. “He was older and I was smitten and I very much overlooked the fact that I’m allergic to shellfish because I wanted the date to go perfect.”

Kurt winced. “Oh, no.”

“I swelled up,” Adam said with a laugh. “I looked like a proper balloon. I was mortified and thought I’d never have a date again. So believe me when I tell you, as far as first dates go, ours was a vast improvement. And I would very much like to have a second.”

Kurt knew the hesitation was written on his face as plain as day. “Adam …”

“Might I ask why not?”

Kurt blew a long breath out. “Because I think I would be being dishonest. To both you and myself.” He couldn’t very well accept going to the dance with Adam when he knew that there was something between himself and Sebastian, and it as reaching its climax very quickly. Within a short while Kurt knew that Sebastian would have to make a decision, and then either Kurt would be loyal to him, or he’d be able to move on. He only needed to be patient a little longer. 

“Dishonest?” Adam’s features pinched. “Is there … someone else?”

Kurt nodded slowly.

“Sebastian Smythe?” Adam guessed.

Kurt tried not to look too shocked as he asked, “How did you know?”

“I’ve seen you both together,” Adam said, no malice in his voice. “I might be daft if I couldn’t see the connection you share.”

“I’m sorry.”

The tickets slipped back into Adam’s pocket and the senior gave him a forced smile. “I understand. If you change your mind, please let me know. I’d be more than willing to make a last second rescue.”

Kurt scrubbed a hand over his face as Adam left. The whole exchange had Kurt feeling horrible. Adam had been nothing but understanding and wonderful, and Kurt felt like he’d stomped all over his feelings. He felt wretched. 

But he couldn’t deny, he wanted to go to the dance with Sebastian. He wanted Sebastian as his date and as his boyfriend and Kurt was determined. Before the dance rolled around Sebastian was either going to be those things, or nothing to him at all. Kurt wouldn’t wait longer than that.

The day after Kurt turned Adam and his invitation to the dance down, there was a package waiting for him at home.

“I put it on the kitchen table,” his uncle told him. There was a sour look to his face. “I opened it. I’m sorry. It was just addressed to here. There was no name and I thought it might be mine. I’m expecting something in the mail. But it has to be yours. It’s nothing I ordered.”

Kurt held back that he hadn’t ordered anything either. 

There was a heavy looking black box sitting on the kitchen table. It was probably the size of one of the lockboxes that Kurt had found in his father’s storage space, but there was something incredibly off putting about the box. It had Kurt standing at a distance, just looking at it, and the odd symbols carved into the top in a silver looking script. 

“Uncle Andy?” Kurt called back to him. “Do you know what’s on the box?”

The clipped answer came quickly in the form of, “No.”

The edge of his uncle’s voice threw him. As if to say he meant the opposite.

“Okay,” Kurt mumbled, finally moving closer. When he lifted the box it was heavy like he’d expected, and icy cold to the touch. It was almost so cold it burned, but he couldn’t feel any magic coming off the box. Nothing seemed to account for the way it felt, and made him feel. 

There was something this box had in common with the one that Sebastian’s mother had given him. Like that one, which had been smooth to the touch, of average temperature and a brownish color, this box had no lock to it. There was no keyhole and no discernable way to open it. There was a seam, indicating it could be opened, but Kurt couldn’t see how.

When he couldn’t figure out how to get it open he tucked the box under his arm, and with Knight trailing at his feet, climbed the stairs to his room. He put the box in the closet with the other one, staking them on top of each other, and took a step back. It seemed absurd that he was collecting locked boxes.

Kurt made a trip back downstairs to ask his uncle, “Do you know who sent it? Was there a return address?”

“Yes,” his uncle said, looking exceedingly tight lipped. “But it’s a generic address. I doubt you’ll find someone at the other end. You don’t know where it came from?”

“No,” Kurt told him honestly. 

His uncle gave him a hard look, then said, “Be careful Kurt.”

It was an odd thing to say. “With what?”

“With everything.” His uncle pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed. “Just with everything.”

Slowly Kurt nodded, and then, like the first box, the newest edition was practically forgotten in his closet.


	11. Chapter 11

It was a quiet, nearly impossible to hear chime that woke Kurt. Despite the volume it had him startling awake with confusion and sleepiness, unable to figure out what had woken him. Then, with Knight growling unhappily at being woken as well, Kurt reached over to the nightstand next to his bed for his ringing cell. 

It was an actual ring, not the alarm he had set for later that morning, and it was pitch black in his room, aside from the stars on his ceiling that glowed in the dark and the moonlight streaming into the open window.

“Hello?” Kurt asked, voice scratchy and low. “Who’s this?” He nearly dropped the phone as he waited, trying to push himself up with one arm and not knock his dog to the floor. 

“Kurt?” It was Quinn, and she sounded rushed, almost breathless, and very scared. “Are you awake?”

Kurt sat right up. “What’s wrong?” He knew it was something serious. She wouldn’t have called him at two in the morning and sounded so tense if it wasn’t.

“It’s Blaine,” she said. “He was attacked.”

“Attacked?” The idea chilled Kurt.

Quickly, Quinn amended, “Well, not directly. And it’s more of a warning, but it’s serious. We need you here. The whole circle. At the lighthouse.”

Kurt cleared his throat and reached for his light. “Wait, I’m confused still.”

There were a series of indeterminable sounds in the background as she said, “Just get to the lighthouse. I’m on my way to get Sebastian now. I know it’s early, but this is serious. This was one of our own. Blaine’s got Rachel and I already called Puck. He’ll be waiting for you out front. Hurry, Kurt.”

“I’m going, I’m going.” He slid out of bed, rubbing his nails gently through the fine hairs on Knight as an apology for waking him. “But it’s two in the morning. If my uncle--”

“It’s Blaine, Kurt. And it could have easily been any of us.”

Kurt hurried to his closet, pulling out his heavy coat. From his window he couldn’t see the front of the house, but the light in Noah’s room was on, and that probably meant he was waiting for Kurt, or he would be shortly. “Give me fifteen minutes. We’ll be there.”

He already had socks on, and with his jacket pulled over his pajamas, there were only his shoes to worry about. That and waking his uncle.

“Stay,” Kurt whispered to his dog, and then he shut the light off in his room and tiptoed his best through the house. Down the stairs all the lights were off, and there wasn’t so much as a sound from anywhere else. As far as Kurt knew, his uncle was still sleeping soundly in his bedroom, and Kurt needed him to stay there. He didn’t think there would be any real way to explain where he was going at two in the morning. 

Noah was on the porch looking tired but worried. He asked Kurt right away, “Did you hear?”

Kurt nodded, keys to his truck in his palm. “But she wasn’t very clear. I probably don’t know any more than you.”

Noah matched him stride for stride down to the street where his truck was parked. “Attacked, she said,” Noah said gruffly. “One of our circle. That’s practically a declaration of war. I say we find whoever did this and we make them pay.”

“But a declaration from whom?” Kurt wondered.

Noah shrugged. “Hunters. Other witches. What does it matter? The point is, they fucked with one of us, and we gotta let people know they can’t get away with that. It’s like you said, everyone out there who knows what we are, they also gotta know how powerful we are. And if we start looking like easy pickings, we’re going to be in a whole mess of trouble.”

The door to the driver’s side creaked a little as Kurt pulled it open and he did his best to slip in as quickly as he could. Then he rested the key in the ignition and said, “If my uncle hears me start the truck up we’re dead meat.” And there wasn’t the option of pushing the truck in neutral, not with the way the road curved around and up a hill. No, the only way forward was to start it up and hope for the best. 

“Go big or go home?”

Humorless, Kurt said, “Get away undetected or go home and be grounded for months on end.”

Kurt’s eyes were glued to his uncle’s bedroom window, visible from the street, as the truck turned over loudly. Kurt winced, desperate for the house to stay dark. And then after a minute, and another, when there was nothing, he could finally breathe easy.

“Come on,” Noah nagged, fingers tapping anxiously against his knee, “we have to go.”

Kurt gave him a firm nod. “Already on it.”

Just to be safe, he didn’t turn the lights on until he as at the end of the street. 

“Don’t you have a heater?” Noah complained when they’d been on a road for a few minutes. He was rubbing his hands together quickly and trying to puff out breaths of visible air. It was cold, but Kurt rolled his eyes, it wasn’t that cold. At least not in the truck.

Kurt told him, “Actually, no. It’s the last thing I need to fix, but I haven’t had the time or money to get it done just yet. I usually just bring a scarf with me. But I doubt you’re going to die from fifteen minutes of thirty degree exposure.”

“You don’t know that.” Noah startled him by reaching for his bare hand, the power of the circle sparking between them. “Work with me here. Think tropical thoughts.” Kurt wondered what was happening for a minute, then he felt a surge and Noah said, “Warmth to fight the night’s chill.”

It was better than a heater. And as long as his fingers stayed threaded with Noah’s it was just perfect.

“See?” Noah said smartly. “Who needs a heater when you’ve got magic.”

“We’re not supposed to be using it until we figure out what’s going on,” Kurt chided. “At least not for little things. Not like this.”

Noah didn’t look ashamed even for a second. “We hardly use magic at all. What kind of witches are we, anyway?”

To the point, Noah’s words weren’t false. In fact when Kurt thought about it, they didn’t really use their magic at all. They practiced as a group, and studies complex spells that they wouldn’t be able to attempt for what seemed like years, but in pairs of twos and trios or more, there was very little magic use. Kurt thought that was a very good thing. It was easy to see how magic could overtake someone. It would have been easy for them to become reliant on it.

They’d driven for a while, and the lighthouse was just coming into view when Noah asked quietly, “We’re going to war, aren’t we?”

“Hm?”

“You know.” Noah shrugged a shoulder. “With that guy attacking you. With whatever just happened with Blaine. Something is starting up.”

“I don’t know if it’ll be war.” Kurt rested an elbow on his door. “I hope not.”

“People die in wars.” Noah finally let go of Kurt’s hand and the warmth started to fade almost right away, but some of it lingered. Enough of it. “Like our parents.”

Kurt could only repeat, “I hope not.”

They were the last to arrive at the lighthouse. They jogged the short distance to where someone had propped the door open and climbed the stairs as fast as they could, Noah calling up for the rest of the circle and Kurt just trying to keep his breath. He was flushed by the time they reached the top, and whereas it had been too cold outside, it was too warm in the lighthouse.

Blaine, however, looked fine. Rachel was plastered to his side on one of the sofas, but he looked no worse for wear. Though everyone looked like they’d been woken from bed in the same manner that Kurt had.

“What happened?” Noah demanded, all but charging up to Blaine. “You look fine.”

Blaine said, “I wasn’t physically attacked. Here. Look.” He reached into his pocket and pulled out his cell. There was a moment where he was searching through it, then he held it up for them all to see and said, “I’ve got the only bedroom that looks out over the backyard at my house. And I was up late studying for my Spanish test. Then there was this flash of light, and when I looked out the window this was burned into my backyard.”

The picture on his phone was that of an ornate looking symbol, black against the green grass around it, The light on Blaine’s camera phone had lit up the thing perfectly and Kurt could see every curve and every staccato line. But he’d never seen it before.

“What is it?” he asked.

Quinn, her hair mused, had Noah’s book in her hand and she had marked a page specifically for when Kurt asked. “It’s this one.” The symbol on the page was a perfect match to the one that had been burned into Blaine’s lawn.

Sebastian asked, “Did you feel any magic?” 

They were all getting more sensitive to the magical world around them. Kurt could tell just by standing near someone, if they had magic in their blood, let alone if they were practicing at all. 

Blaine shook his head. “No. This wasn’t done with magic. And Quinn? If you will?”

She told them, “This symbol is very clear to witches, and if we’d had Noah’s book before this, we’d have known right away what it was.”

Kurt knew. He just knew. And he answered for Quinn, “It’s a hunter’s mark, isn’t it?”

She said solemnly, “It is.”

Sebastian whistled out, “No magic required.”

Rachel surged to her feet. “This isn’t funny!”

“No one said it was,” Sebastian bit back. 

“So it’s hunters,” Noah said, “but what does it mean?”

It probably should have made him feel better to hear her say, “It’s a warning,” but it didn’t. Especially not when she added, “It’s the mark of a hunter who has suspected use of magic. There are hunters here. Now we know that for sure, and they’ve pegged us for something. This was the warning. The next time it won’t be.”

“Hunters,” Noah spat out.

“Cooper knew,” Kurt reminded. “He knew and that’s why he came to warn us. The amount of power that we gave off when we bound our circle, it had to attract their attention.”

Features dark, Sebastian asked, “So they’re just coming to kill us?”

“Not if we kill them first,” Noah answered him.

Quinn snapped the book shut. “No one is killing anyone.”

It was a mess. A total and complete mess and Kurt felt even less in control than he imagined was possible. 

“I don’t think you can control what a hunter decides to do,” Sebastian said to her. “They obviously know where we are. Who we are for that matter. If they want to come for us, they’re going to. Maybe Puck has the right idea.”

Rachel screeched, “We’re talking about killing someone!”

“Someone who wants to kill us first!” Sebastian yelled back. “A preemptive strike!”

Blaine surged up to his feet. “Everyone just shut up!” Silence fell over the group right away and Kurt was so thankful for him.

Quietly, as if he wasn’t sure if it was okay to talk yet, Kurt mentioned, “We don’t even know who did this. We don’t know how many, what kind of resources they have at their disposal, or what their plans are.”

Blaine gave a firm nod. “And for that reason, no one is doing anything. This was a warning. Not a declaration or anything else. Only an idiot would rush into something as major as this without a good handle on the situation. So we’re not going to do anything. We’re going to lay low, not use our magic for anything outside if a life or death situation, and we’re going to be extra vigilant. No taking any chances of any kind.”

Quinn agreed right away, followed by Kurt. But Sebastian asked, “Who made you leader?”

Kurt wanted to club him one and said, “This isn’t the time to argue over who’s in charge.”

Sebastian didn’t seem to share his sentiment. “Maybe we should. Maybe we need a leader, and I’m not sure I want that leader to be Blaine.”

“I could be leader,” Rachel suggested.

“I’m oldest,” Noah butted in.

Quinn dropped Noah’s book on a side table with a heavy sound. She asked them all, “Our circle is being threatened and we’re arguing over who gets to be leader? When did we regress into being six years old?”

Kurt could understand. They were all so scared. None of them had a clue what to do, but Blaine had sounded right on the money to Kurt. He liked the plan that Blaine had suggested. He was willing to support it as if it were his own.

“I think Blaine’s plan is good,” Kurt said, speaking up. “And it doesn’t matter who’s leader, or if we even need a leader. What matters is that there is a serious threat to this circle, and I’m not going to stand by and let us squabble about ridiculous things. We have to lay low, at least until we get more information on who these hunters might be, or how to best counter them. And we are not, I repeat not, going to turn on each other. We are a circle. We are family. And this will not break us.”

Noah looked pensive for a minute, then said, “Hummel for leader.” He raised his hand.

It took another fifteen minutes for the argument about leader to die down, and by then most everyone looked on the verge of falling asleep again.

Rachel said, “I’m going to take Blaine back home, but we should have another meeting tomorrow, or even later today. Kurt’s book has some information about hunters. We need to study up.”

At least that was the one thing they could agree on.

It was tense the next day. At least Kurt felt tense. And it felt even odder going to school, knowing that there were hunters in town, watching them, waiting to make a move. Kurt felt vulnerable and exposed and he hated it.

But what he hated even more than that, something that made him feel very shallow, was not knowing where he stood with Sebastian. He’d made himself be patient, but the dance was nearly upon them, and if he waited much longer he knew he wasn’t going to be able to buy tickets for it. He wanted to give Sebastian all the space he could, but time was up.

“Can I talk to you alone?” he asked Sebastian during their lunch hour, desperate to get him away from Quinn and Jesse and their other friends, just incase he made a fool of himself. 

Sebastian gave him a puzzled look. “Aren’t we going to meet after school at the lighthouse? Or did Berry change her mind? You know, we have to stop letting her think she’s in charge of us.”

“No. Not that.” 

Kurt took him around the back of the school where they’d be assured some privacy and then said, “Have you give any thought to when we talked about us?”

He wanted to reach out and take Sebastian’s hand. It was pleasant to touch Quinn and Noah and all the members of the circle, but it was absolutely electric when he and Sebastian came into contact. 

“Ah …”

“Sebastian.” Kurt gnawed down on his lip. 

Sebastian sighed out, “It’s not that I don’t do relationships. It’s that I don’t want one. The pressure. The … the …”

“Don’t you think it would be different with me?” Kurt asked. “We don’t know everything there is to know about each other, but the really important stuff … we’re on the same level with that.”

“I just …”

“Don’t you like me?”

Sebastian’s unease fell away, replaced by a cocky smile. “You’re one fine piece of ass, Hummel.”

Kurt pursed his lips. “I don’t know how many times I have to tell you that I really like you. I touch you and it’s like everything falls into place. I want a relationship with you. I won’t be a bootycall. So I’m asking you to decide. Do you want to go to the dance with me and be my boyfriend?”

He could see Sebastian thinking, and he watched Sebastian look to the posters advertising the dance around them.

“We’re drawn to each other,” Kurt urged. “Neither of us can deny that, whether there’s anything to this fate issue or not. The attraction is there.”

For once brief second Kurt thought he had a chance. He could almost see the want in Sebastian’s eyes.

Then the teen laughed and said, “I don’t do dances.”

Kurt said numbly, “Like you don’t do relationships.”

He felt like his legs had been swept out from under him. There went his chance. He’d really thought he and Sebastian had a connection that could take them somewhere. Sebastian was the only one who’d ever made his skin buzz with want and need. And Sebastian was certainly the only boy he’d consider dating that wouldn’t need to be lied to in order to protect his circle.

He wanted Sebastian. That was it. The plain and simple. He wanted Sebastian but Sebastian didn’t want him.

Sharply, Kurt told him, “Thanks. I’m glad we could clear that up.”

“I’m not trying to hurt you.”

“I suppose you aren’t.” Kurt couldn’t be bothered for much of a response, not when he felt like anything could tip him. Anything could make him cry. “You can’t make someone feel something they don’t. And you can’t force someone to be with someone they don’t want to. I don’t want you to want to be with me unless you do too.”

Their was an odd look of crestfallen awe on Sebastian’s face. A mixture of sadness and beaten expectation. He looked like Kurt had said the absolute worst and best thing ever.

“Kurt.”

Kurt couldn’t help making a dig. He had to tell Sebastian, “Adam asked me to the dance. Adam. The guy that I disappeared on, and didn’t have a real explanation for, and pretty much was a crappy date to. He asked me to the dance, and I knew it was because he really liked me, but I turned him down. I thought I would wait for you, and you’d want to go with me. But of course I was wrong.”

Sebastian started, “He only wants to go with you for one reason, and that’s--”

“You do not,” Kurt snapped at him, finger coming up threateningly, “get to say that he only wants in my pants. You don’t get to say anything about Adam. Nothing. And as far as I’m concerned, you don’t get to say anything to or about me, as well. At least nothing that isn’t circle business.”

“I can’t be forced,” Sebastian said helplessly.

“To like me?”

“It’s not what you think.”

Kurt looked away, far off toward the rest of the school where people were laughing and talking and enjoying themselves. He said, “I don’t know what to think.”

“We should get back,” Sebastian said dully.

It might have been instinct, but Kurt reached for him as Sebastian turned to leave. His fingers brushed Sebastian’s and their magic burst through to the surface, nearly taking Kurt off his feet. He could see Sebastian sway a bit, too. It was the first time it had been that intense, and there was really no call for it. None that Kurt could find.

“I’m sorry,” Kurt said, feeling stupid for apologizing. “For trying to force you to like me. I thought you did.”

He thought he’d imagined it for a moment, then Sebastian’s grip was tightening on his, and the teen met his eyes, declaring, “I do.”

“Then why?” Kurt whispered. It didn’t make any sense.

Sebastian leaned over. 

Was Sebastian going to kiss him?

“Kurt,” Sebastian said, his mouth at Kurt’s ear, voice so low Kurt had to strain to hear him. “I’m sorry, too. But you wouldn’t understand.”

Sebastian dropped his hand then, nearly ran from Kurt, and left Kurt feeling hollow and restless. But confused, mostly.

Kurt told Quinn after school, “I’m not going. To the dance. I’m not going.”

“What do you meant you’re not going?” she barked at him, angry. “I thought we had an understanding, Kurt. You go, I go.” They’d made the decision to go the dance together when they’d both been without dates, and neither had looked like they’d end up with one at all. In the end Quinn had inevitably been forced to choose between continuing her hunt for a date to the dance, and her duties as photographer for the event, but they’d still planned to go together regardless if Kurt had a date or not. 

Kurt, feeling irritated, snapped at her, “That was before I turned down one of the nicest boys ever, only to be rejected by the boy I really wanted to go with. So forgive me if I don’t want to go and get dressed up and dance the night away while Adam takes someone else and Sebastian doesn’t go at all.”

“You guys talking about Adam?” Tina asked, passing by on the way to her car.

Kurt would have begged Quinn not to say anything, but she was already telling Tina, “Kurt turned him down for someone else, but that someone else turned Kurt down. So now he’s sulking like a little baby about not having a date to the dance, and he’s threatening to leave me high and dry even though we decided that we’d be each other’s backup.”

Tina stopped thoughtfully, books in her arms. Kurt wondered how she balanced a stack so high, or made it look so easily. 

Quinn added, “I don’t think Kurt knows that we can’t be friend anymore if he does this to me.”

Tina tapped her booted foot, then said assuredly, “I don’t think Adam has a date yet.”

Kurt balked, “No way.”

“Way.” Tina gave him a flat look. “Mike and Adam have gotten to be very good friends lately, and Mike told me, that Adam told him that the person he wanted to take to the dance turned him down. And that the person Adam wanted to take, was really the only person he would consider going to the dance with. So Mike said now Adam is probably going to sit at home and feel sorry for himself. But you wouldn’t know anything about that, right, Kurt?”

Quinn gave him an exaggerated expression.

Kurt wanted Sebastian. There was no mistaking that, but if he wasn’t wanted in return, Adam wasn’t exactly a mere consolation prize. Kurt was starting to feel ashamed at himself, for turning down Adam when part of him had always known that Sebastian wasn’t going to commit to a relationship. 

Kurt asked her, “Do you think if I went groveling to him, that he’d still be interested in taking me to the dance?

Tina didn’t know, but she did point across the parking lot and say, “You never know. And there’s Adam over there. You could catch him before he left, if you wanted to.”

Surprisingly, when Kurt looked to Quinn, she wouldn’t tell him either way what she thought he should do. 

“Okay.” He rallied himself. “I want to go to the dance, and I want to go with someone who wants to go with me.”

He caught up with Adam just as the teen was getting into his car, the white Audi still looking considerable out of place among the Hondas and Toyotas the other teens drove.

“Kurt?” Adam asked, clearly surprised to see him. 

“I’ve been an idiot,” he started, not sure if it was the right away to go about it, but truly believing in his words. “You were right there the whole time, in front of me, and I kept looking past you, wanting more and deserving less.”

“Quite poetic,” Adam remarked. “But rather confusing.”

Kurt apologized, then said, “You asked me to the dance and I turned you down because I had conflicting feelings about someone else. And I know it might be too late now, but those feelings are squashed. They’re done with. So I was wondering, that is if you’ll have me, if you still wanted to go to the dance together. Maybe.”

He felt incredibly idiotic, standing there, hoping that the most wonderful boy at the school would take a second chance on him.

“Didn’t find a better offer?” Adam asked.

Kurt shook his head. “The best offer was in front of me from the get go.”

Adam really should have made him work for it, but it was clear to Kurt from the beginning of the conversation that Adam was still interested. And it was no shocker when he told Kurt, “I’ll pick you up at seven-fifteen.”

Chancing it, and feeling bold, Kurt leaned over to press his lips against Adam’s cheek. “You won’t regret this!”

“Agreed,” Adam laughed, and Sebastian was almost completely forgotten. 

The wait until the dance was quick and almost painless, and before Kurt knew it his uncle was shaking Adam’s hand, reminding him about the rifle over the fireplace in the study, and enforcing that Kurt be home before midnight.

“Sorry about that,” Kurt said when they were in the car, headed to the dance. “He’s probably going to be like that every time you come over. I guess he got word that my dad was pretty overprotective, and he’s taken up the mantle.”

“I’m not at all bothered,” Adam assured him. “If it were some British tart picking up my nephew before a late night dance I’d be thorough as well.”

Kurt held Adam’s hand in the car. There was no spark, not burst of magic and certainly nothing tying them together. But the grip was warm and gentle and very nice. 

“Tina’s done it again,” Kurt remarked as they entered the school auditorium. The theme was the transition from winter to spring and there were bursts of flowers everywhere, streamers in bright colors, and floating balloons that were mocked up to look like trees and vines and all things spring. 

Adam’s arm draped around Kurt’s waist as he added, “It is wonderful.”

They had drinks first, meeting up with Tina and Mike, and then Jesse and his date, and even Mercedes who was being tugged with a laugh to the dance floor by a blond boy named Sam. And then once they’d done a circuit of the room, and signed the memory book, Adam started nudging Kurt towards the center where people were slow dancing.

“I’m not much of a dancer,” Kurt warned, but Adam insisted anyway. “I’ll step on your feet.”

Adam had a solution for that. He put his hand up on Kurt’s shoulder and told him, “You lead me and I’ll follow.” It wasn’t expected, especially with Adam being the older, taller, more dancing inclined of the two of them, but it was so remarkably refreshing that Kurt wanted to kiss him on the spot.

“You don’t mind?” Kurt whispered to him, his arm curling around Adam’s waist. “Letting me lead?”

Adam mumbled back, “Sometimes I like to be led. You’re just the man to do it. Very capable.” At the look on his face, Adam wondered, “Hasn’t anyone ever let you lead before?”

Kurt didn’t know what to say, but he put his arm around Adam and they danced. 

When the music picked up they settled in for a bit of a rest at a table, and Adam asked him, “Have you started thinking about college yet?”

The conversation seemed a lot out of place, but Kurt found himself answering honestly, “I know I want to go. I thought I wanted to go to New York for a while, but California doesn’t seem so bad either. Maybe San Francisco? Berkley? I’m not sure. But I’ve got another year or so before I apply. Why do you ask?”

Adam pursed his lips, then said, “I’ve heard back from Oxford. I’ve been accepted. To Stanford as well. The end of the year isn’t that far off, and I’ve got to select one before then.”

“Oh. So you can’t decide between staying in America or going back to England?”

Adam nodded. “Truth be told, I’ve wanted to stay in the motherland each and every time I’ve gone for the summer. There’s never been anything to pique my interest in staying in America. At least not until now.”

Kurt blushed. “Like in California.”

Kurt could see it now, so easily and without trouble. In a few years time Adam could be at Stanford, and Kurt at Berkley, and they’d only be a few hours drive from each other. They’d have weekend together, and spring break and midnight phone calls in between finals and part time jobs. If he and Adam got serious, and if they made a real go at a relationship, it wouldn’t be that difficult, and it would be rewarding. 

And still … there would never be any magic. Never between them, and Kurt wasn’t sure he’d ever be able to tell Adam about his circle. The circle he’d probably have to leave behind to be with Adam.

“I’ve given it serious thought,” Adam said. “Staying here. In America for college.”

Kurt shook himself free of his daydreaming. He and Adam weren’t even a serious thing. They certainly weren’t a couple. It was just the way Adam looked at him, and treated him that had Kurt wondering how far they could go, and if there was a ceiling of any kind. Kurt could see Adam being the perfect boyfriend.

Safe.

Sebastian wasn’t safe. No. He was exciting, and dangerous and unpredictable. He was they kinds of things that Adam never would be. Kurt just didn’t know if he wanted safe or exciting.

“Kurt?”

Kurt laughed his daze away. He said, “We’ve both still got plenty of time.”

Adam pressed a chaste kiss to Kurt’s forehead. “Right you are. Tonight is not the place, nor the time. And I’d like to think we’re both refreshed. Would you care for another spin around the dance floor? You’re looking absolutely ravishing tonight. I’d very much like to show you off.”

Kurt accepted his hand up and felt less stupid the second time around, dancing next to a boy who liked him for just being him.

It was getting late by the time Kurt excused himself to the restroom. Adam had gotten preoccupied with a couple of friends that Kurt wasn’t familiar with, seniors by their look and height, and Kurt was certain he wouldn’t be missed. 

He was halfway to the restroom when he realized he was standing in front of his old locker. It was the very locker he’d nearly ripped to shreds with his magic in front of Blaine, before they’d moved him to another locker two halls over. It brought back memories that had him stopping and thinking, wondering if he’d known then what he knew now, if he would have still bound the circle.

“You look great.”

Kurt nearly leapt in the air. Instead he spun around to see Sebastian in the hallway, dressed impeccably and looking handsome. Kurt wheezed out, “What’re you doing here? I thought you didn’t do dances?” It hurt terribly to think that Sebastian had only said that so he wouldn’t have to go with Kurt. 

Sebastian held his palms out. “Truthfully? I don’t know.”

“What?”

Sebastian told him, “I’ve spent the past two hours lurking in the doorway, watching you dance with some guy who’s completely into you. That’s what I’ve been doing, and yes, I’m really aware of how creepy that is, so spare me the stranger danger talk.”

Kurt frowned. “You’ve been watching me dance with Adam? Wait. Back up.”

Sebastian walked steadily towards him, hands going to his pockets, seeming a little lost. “I wasn’t lying when I said I didn’t do dances. I don’t know why I’m here. I don’t know why I was just watching you. I don’t know why when I’m around you my balls shrink up like I’m and anxious preteen, and I can’t think and I can’t fight for what I want and I certainly can’t be as confident as I normally am.”

Kurt told him, “I asked you to the dance. I gave you the option.”

With a groan Sebastian headed to the nearest locker. He leaned back against it and closed his eyes, saying, “Things were much easier when you weren’t here.”

Anger burst up in Kurt. “Don’t you go trying to blame your attitude problem on me.”

“That’s not what I meant.”

Slowly, Sebastian slid down the locker, knees pulling up to his chest as he rested on the ground. He seemed dejected and resigned.

“Then you’re going to have to help me out here,” Kurt said, fisting his own hands in his pocket. “I can’t read your mind.”

“My mom really believes that shit about destiny, you know.”

“Sebastian?” Kurt might have hurried his way to sit next to the teen, but he hoped it didn’t show how desperate he was clarification. 

“About the Smythes and the Hummels,” Sebastian told him. “Because one psychic four hundred years ago thought we’d make a good match, generations of our families have been fed this bull. Personally, I think your dad broke up with my mom just to get away from her destiny ramblings. I wouldn’t be surprised. No one puts up with it for long. She sounds crazy and I guess part of her is.”

“You shouldn’t talk like that about your mom.”

Sebastian seemed to dismiss is words easily. “You try living with her.”

Tentatively, Kurt let the pads of his fingers brush over the back of Sebastian’s hand. The typical flow of magic wrapped around them at once.

“It scares you, right?” That was what Kurt had suspected from the beginning.

“Not really. I always knew to expect it.” Sebastian moved his hand away. “Since I was old enough to know what a Hummel was.”

Kurt tried to urge, “You don’t have to be scared. This bond between us, whatever it is, call it fate or destiny or just mutual attraction, is isn’t something to be scared of. You should be just as curious about it as I am. You shouldn’t be fighting it. It’s not bad. It’s just … weird. I’ll admit that, it’s weird. But you shouldn’t--”

Sebastian’s voice rang down the hallways, mad and loud as he shouted at Kurt, “Stop telling me what to feel!” He raised himself up to his feet, leaving Kurt feeling small on the ground. “You don’t get to tell me what to feel, Kurt Hummel.”

“Why are you mad?” Kurt stood as well.

“Did you have a crazy mom barking at you about who you’re fated to be with since you were old enough to walk?” Sebastian demanded. “I don’t think you did. But that’s what I had. I had a mom, who wasn’t even really a mom, telling me that I shouldn’t bother with that boy down the street, and I needed to ignore the girl who wanted to go to the movies with me. Do you get it? I didn’t date. All I did was listen to my mom talk about Burt. Burt Hummel this, and Burt Hummel that. Smythe and Hummel. Hummel and Smythe.”

“Sebastian--”

“And then,” Sebastian seethed, “it was Kurt Hummel this, and Kurt Hummel that. Sebastian and Kurt. That’s all that mattered to her. She missed her chance with your dad, but she wasn’t going to let me miss mine with you. She didn’t care if I wanted to be with you or not. She didn’t care that we were a million miles apart, or that we’d never met or weren’t likely to, either. She said I had to save myself, and I had to wait and I had to be there for when you came. My whole life she’s been obsessed with you, and with me, and letting me know that I never had a choice. Apparently I’m supposed to love you. I’m supposed to be with you forever. I don’t get a choice. I don’t get to make my own way and love who I want to, and make my own decisions. No. I get you. No matter what. You.”

Kurt felt his eyes burn a little, like he was liable to burst into tears at any moment. “No one is making you do anything,” Kurt said gently. “No one can.”

“I hate it!” Sebastian slammed a fist into Kurt’s old locker. “I hate being bound to you. And don’t you try and tell me that we aren’t. You felt it the very first time we touched, and every time after that. We are bound together, and my mother was right, and I hate it. Hummel and Smythe. Fated to love each other.” He gave a forced chuckle. “I guess that bitch fate just doesn’t care if I want to be with you or not.”

Kurt couldn’t imagine what that would have been like. It was terrible to think of a young, impressionable Sebastian, being told who to love. Or being told he had no choice in the matter at all. It was no wonder Sebastian was mad. Kurt would have been mad, too.

“Fate can’t make two people love each other.” That was as clearly as Kurt could say it. “Fate didn’t kill my father. It didn’t bring me here. It didn’t make me like you. And it doesn’t make me want you still.”

Sebastian’s shoulders were shaking. The taller teen braced his arms up against the lockers and buried his face in them, still shaking, sounding an awful lot like he might be crying. 

“I just hate it so much,” Sebastian said, voice cracking. “I want to choose.”

That, Kurt supposed, explained away Sebastian’s overly flirtatious behavior as nothing but rebellion against his mother. Rebellion against fate and against destiny and against two bloodlines that were supposed to be bound together through eternity. 

Maybe it also explained why Sebastian as so hot with him one minute, and cold the next. Getting too close too easily, and then backing away as quickly as possible. 

They simply were being drawn together, maybe by the magic, and maybe by something else. But Kurt wasn’t fighting it, and Sebastian clearly was.

Kindly, Kurt laid a hand on Sebastian’s shoulder and told him, “I don’t care what a psychic said about our two bloodlines four hundred years ago. And I certainly don’t believe that two people can be made to love each other against their will. I would never let myself be coerced into giving my heart away to anyone who I didn’t truly want to have it, and I certainly wouldn’t accept love from anyone if I didn’t think it was true love. I believe in free choice.”

“You can’t fight fate,” Sebastian said wryly. “That’s what my mom always said. You try and fight fate and it comes back to bite you in the ass. There is no free choice. There’s only the fight until you give in.”

Kurt found himself leaning forward, head turning so he could press his front against Sebastian’s back. He wrapped is arms around the lean waist in front of him and mumbled against a silken shirt, “I really like you. You’re smart and you’re funny, and when you’re not being an absolute pervert, you’re charming. I’ve seen you be compassionate, and strong and you’re certainly not without faults, but you are a good person. I really could do without the lewd comments, but there are these moments when you open up to me, and I feel like I can see right into your soul. We connect and it’s like I can’t imagine how I was without you. I can’t see how that could be forced or faked.”

Sebastian rumbled, “Just because you can’t see it, doesn’t mean it isn’t.”

Kurt shushed him. “We make a good pair. And it’s not because of some psychic, and it’s not because you’re a Smythe and I’m a Hummel. It’s certainly not because of fate. We make a good pair because we balance each other. Compliment each other. We’re brothers in our circle, friends out of it, and who knows what if we put our mind to it. That is organic, Sebastian. That can’t be made, manufactured, forced or faked. I like you, and even if you were a Brown or a Morgan or a Smith, I’d still like you. If destiny said I was supposed to be with anyone else, I’d still like you and I’d still make up my own mind.”

“But--”

“You don’t believe in free choice,” Kurt said, arms squeezing a little around Sebastian, “but I do, and you won’t convince me otherwise. I choose who I want, and I’m with who I want to be. No one influences that or makes the choice for me. You’ve spent all this time going against the grain, against your mother just because you don’t like what she has to say, but you never stopped to consider something amazing.”

Sebastian gave a small sniffle. “What’s that?”

Kurt grinned into his shirt. “That without fate and without destiny and without your mother, without any of those things, maybe we’re just a good couple. If none of them existed, and we were free to choose, maybe we’d still pick each other. I know I’d still pick you. I just guess it’s up to you if you’d still pick me.”

Kurt let him go then. He let go and stepped back. There wasn’t any more he could say, and if his words hadn’t convinced Sebastian, then nothing would.

“Go home,” Kurt urged him. “Go home and think about what I just told you.” He frowned and asked, “How’d you even get in here without a ticket?”

Sebastian turned around slowly, eyes wet and face a little blotchy. He explained, “Jesse went out to his car for something earlier. He had a spare ticket for me and thought I might want to come in.”

In the distance Kurt could hear the opening and shutting of the auditorium doors, and any second now someone was going to pass by and see them. It was inevitable.

Kurt told Sebastian once more, “I like you for being you, and not because you’re a Smythe. I want us to be something. What do you want? Go home and think about what you want. This only works if we both know.”

Kurt left Sebastian standing there and made his way finally to the bathroom. He splashed water on his face and let out a long sigh. Not for the first time he was grateful he hadn’t grown up in Washington, without so much magic and history surrounding him. Unlike Sebastian he’d had fifteen wonderful years of being normal. And he was beginning to understand his father’s motivations a bit more with every passing day.

“Are you okay?” Adam asked when Kurt got back. He put an arm around Kurt’s shoulders but Kurt shrugged it off. He hadn’t been certain before, if he wanted safe and normal, or exciting and dangerous, but he knew now. He knew every time he touched Sebastian and that magic sparked between them. There was no comparison.

“Feeling tired,” Kurt was able to tell him honestly. He was thankful to see that around him the dance seemed to be whining down. There were several people still out on the dance floor, but the crowd had thinned.

Adam told him, “Of course. We can get our things and go any time you’re ready.”

Adam was so considerate. He was sweet and thoughtful and all the things Kurt had been sure he wanted in a boyfriend. But safe was safe, and safe was boring. Kurt didn’t want boring.

“Adam,” Kurt said awkwardly when they were in front of his house. The night air was crisp and cold around them and Kurt wanted to be as quick about it as possible, though for various reasons. He could see his uncle had the lights on in the house, even though it was late. The man was clearly waiting up for him, and Kurt wanted to smile at the action that seemed so like what his father would have done. “I had a great time tonight. You were wonderful to me.”

The smile fell from Adam’s face. “Oh no. I know that look.”

Kurt felt ashamed. “It was never my intention to jerk you around. To give you hope for something and then take it away. I’m really sorry.”

Adam asked, “So I’m not the one?”

Slowly, Kurt shook his head. “I don’t think so. You’re amazing in so many ways, but you just … you’re not the one.” Sebastian was. He really was. Kurt knew it to be the truth.

“I really like you, Kurt.”

“I like you too, Adam.” Kurt sighed. “Just not in the way you want me to.”

Adam gave him a final look, the conceded, “Alright. I haven’t got to like it, but I do understand. And I hope you won’t shy away from a friendship with me.”

“Of course not,” Kurt swore. Then he kissed Adam once more, just a peck on the lips, and slid into his house.

His uncle was sitting in the living room and spotted him right away ,calling out, “You’re home sooner than expected. I was fully prepared to wait up until midnight. I even had a punishment all lined up for when you were a few minutes over due.”

Kurt gave him a weak smile. “Sorry to ruin your plans.”

Seeing the look on his face, his uncle got to his feet right away. “Something happened. What happened? I should warn you, that rifle over the fireplace isn’t merely for show. I was a marksman champion when I was eighteen. I think I’ve still got it in me.”

Kurt was able to laugh for real then. It was a nice change from all the frowning and worrying he’d been doing. He said, “No, nothing like that happened. Nothing bad. Adam was really sweet, but he just wasn’t for me. Truthfully, he wasn’t who I really wanted to go with in the first place.”

Unhappily, his uncle said, “That Smythe boy.”

“Yeah.” Kurt wondered, “How’d you know?”

His uncle shook his head. “Smythes and Hummels have a way of coming together. Call it fate if you will.”

Kurt refused. He would not. Not after what he’d gone through with Sebastian earlier that night. “I like him,” Kurt ground out, “and it has nothing to do with me being a Hummel and him being a Smythe.”

His uncle seemed to understand right away that the subject was touchy, and he said instead, “I’m actually feeling a little tired. I’m going to head on up to bed. You should probably get there too.” His uncle set aside the book he’d been reading and squeezed Kurt’s arm as he passed. 

“Sorry,” Kurt mumbled at him, and hoped he hadn’t hurt his uncle’s feelings.

He did, like suggested, head right up to bed. He’d given Sebastian more than enough food for thought, and he was certainly wiped out. A long night’s sleep was exactly what he wanted.

The sight of Cooper Anderson in his bedroom, seated on his bed, was not what he expected.


	12. Chapter 12

At first Kurt just stared at him, unwilling to believe that Cooper would be stupid enough to be in his house with his uncle only a few rooms down, and still very much awake. And then, when the shock had passed, he surged forward with a desperate hiss, demanding to know, “What are you doing here?”

Cooper raised an unimpressed eyebrow. “Hunters burn their warning into my little brother’s lawn and you think I’m not going to come?”

Kurt stopped short. “So you know?”

“Of course I know.” Cooper stood. “I know everything that goes on in this town. Your circle would be gone already if I wasn’t around.”

Kurt corrected, “Sneaking around. Not seeing Blaine. Only giving us just enough information to get through to the next day. Is that what you’re talking about?”

Cooper paused, seemingly put out. “My relationship with my brother is none of your business.”

“It is when he’s part of my circle. That makes him my brother too.”

Kurt thought that might only make Cooper more angry, he seemed awfully territorial, but he only clapped Kurt on the back and said, “I knew you’d grow into your responsibilities. You’re certainly not without hope.”

“Huh?”

Cooper shook his head. “I told you. When it comes to this circle, you’re the lynchpin. They’re going to fall apart without you.”

Kurt echoed, “Lynchpin. Like … leader?”

Kurt was still very aware of how close his uncle was, and how he’d never be able to explain Cooper’s presence to him. His only hope was to stay undetected, and to get Cooper out as soon as possible.

“It’s a circle,” Cooper said, like Kurt was stupid, “there are no leaders. You’re all equal in your power, equal in the say you have in the circle, and equal as brothers and sisters. But a lynchpin is different from a leader. If god forbid someone like Fabray died, or Berry refused to step up to what was expected of her, or any other of things went wrong with the other members, your circle would still be okay. If it was you, Kurt, it would be different.”

“I really don’t like the sound of that,” Kurt told him honestly. “We’re already have problems in the circle about leadership. I think the other members are going to confuse that with whatever a lynchpin is.”

Unconcerned, Cooper told him, “Your circle is young, inexperienced, and fragile. Trust me, you’re not having problems. This is all completely normal. In fact, I’d be worried if various members weren’t jockeying for better positions in the circle. You’re all teenagers. Powerful teenagers. That’s going to bring out some serious selfishness, whether it’s intended or not. Deal with it. It’ll go away before long.”

“That’s great,” Kurt said, not at all feeling enthusiastic. “But why are you here? The symbol? The hunters?”

Cooper said right away, “For added protection. I’m sure by now you’d found out what the symbol means. That it’s a warning. And that next time they burn it onto someone’s lawn, it’ll be a declaration that they’re coming for you. It’s brash, Kurt, for the hunters, but also telling. They know your circle is weak. They know your parents can’t protect you. And they know they could easily take you if they see one bit of magic being used. I’m here to make them think twice. I’m not new, I’m not inexperience and I will kill them if they even thing about touching Blaine.”

Kurt startled at the cold malice in Cooper’s eyes. Kurt believed every word the man told him. 

“But,” Cooper continued with a sigh, “they’re not coming for Blaine. They burned it into his lawn as a warning to you. That they can get at your circle and that if they need to, they will. But make no mistake, they’re going to be coming for you. You’re the big fish they’re looking to catch. I love Blaine. I will protect him with every fiber of my being, but he’s not my priority.”

“Cooper?”

It was like Cooper was in pain as he admitted, “If it comes down to you or Blaine, and I can only save one of you, I have to pick you. I have to.”

Kurt pulled the chair from his desk out and sank into it. “Why? Blaine is your brother. You love him. I’m just this kid.”

“How many people have told you you’re special?” Cooper asked him. “They’re not just rambling for their own benefit.”

“Why?” Kurt asked again. “What is so damn special about me?”

Cooper gave him an odd look, like he had something to say, but didn’t dare. Kurt could tell he was holding back, and it was maddening. 

Cooper said simply, “It’s in your blood, and we’re going to leave it at that for now. It’s not important. Not really.”

Kurt sputtered. “I think it is. My blood? Hummel blood?”

“No,” Cooper said reluctantly, “your Mason blood.”

“Mason?” Kurt frowned. He’d heard that name before. He just couldn’t place it. It was an itch of memory under his skin that he couldn’t scratch, no matter how hard he though.

Cooper ended up having the answer for him when he said, “Your mother’s maiden name was Mason. Elizabeth Mason, before she married your father. And I swear to you, when the time is right, I’m going to tell you what you need to know. But this isn’t that time, and it’ll end up just being a distraction that you and your circle can’t afford. Trust me on this.”

Kurt had damn near a hundred books his father had left for him in the storage container. He had spell books, and books on the history of witchcraft, and even more on the various plants and flowers that were essential ingredients in any of their rituals. Chances were, especially if his mother or her blood was any bit as important as Cooper was suggesting, she could be in one of the books. 

So instead Kurt said, “So you’re here to watch out for the circle, and to try and intimidate the hunters into backing down?”

“Essentially,” Cooper agreed. “And to make sure you bunch of idiots don’t muck anything up. I wasn’t messing around when I told you that your power grew exponentially when your bound your circle. I don’t think you know what you’re capable of doing right now, but when you find out, it’s going to be a huge temptation. If things had gone differently as a whole, you’d have parents guiding you, and other circles to watch and learn from, but you’re kind of on your own here, and I don’t want you ruining things for yourselves.”

Kurt assumed, “Getting ourselves hurt, you mean.”

Cooper nodded. “It’s easy to do. Without even realizing it.”

“So what can I do?” There was nothing more important than keeping the circle safe. Nothing Kurt wouldn’t do.”

The answer seemed simple enough when Cooper said, “No magic. At least none that isn’t done behind closed doors and out of view of anyone who isn’t in your circle. And start looking for any repeat faces that don’t fit in with the town. I’m talking anyone you haven’t seen before who’s also showing up around you a little too frequently. These hunters won’t have been in town for long, and they certainly aren’t from around here. Hunters are mainly nomadic. If you’re paying attention, you may be able to spot them.”

“And then what? Just run in the opposite direction?”

“No.” The look was back in Cooper’s eyes. “I’m going to be hanging around. I’m going to try to keep out of sight, but I’ll be here. If you even suspect someone of being a hunter, you tell me right away and I’ll deal with it. I’m not bound by a circle like you are, Kurt. I’m older and I know exactly how to deal with this problem. They won’t be the first I’ve run into.”

“So you’re going to kill them?” Kurt asked, feeling chilled. “Just like that? Take a human life?”

Cooper’s eye narrowed and he told Kurt, “Do you know what they’re going to do when they finally catch your circle using magic? Do you? Let me fill you in, Kurt, since you seem so willing to show them mercy. Four hundred years ago when they were burning witches at the stake, it wasn’t just for show. And they’re still doing it now, as a sign of their authority and now their intolerance. They’ll burn you and everyone in your circle alive. Just like your father burned.”

Kurt snapped, “That was an unnatural witch who killed him. Not a hunter.”

“True,” Cooper conceded, “but the fire was probably that witch’s way of trying to make it look like a hunter to the witching community. Witches don’t burn each other, not unless they’re trying to hide something.”

“Okay.” Kurt tried to calm himself. “No magic unless necessary, keep an eye out for unfamiliar faces, and be vigilant. We already figured that out, by the way. We met earlier.”

“There’s something else.”

Kurt was dreading what that might be. 

Cooper crossed his arms over his chest and said, “There’s always a possibility that one or more of the hunters might attempt to make contact with you. It’s very obvious they know exactly who you are. It’s not unheard of for them to try to contact you. They’ll come at you where they know you’re the weakest, and they’ll know how badly you don’t want conflict. They’ll try to offer you a stay of arms, if you will. A truce. They will tell you that if you agree to meet with them, they’re willing to negotiate their leave from the town. But do not believe them.”

“We don’t trust hunters,” Kurt said. “I thought that much was clear.”

“Crystal,” Cooper said with a nod. “Never. On anything. They are not to be trusted. If you trust them on anything they will kill you. Our parents trusted them to honor their word and it got them killed.”

Cooper mentioning their parents was a spark to Kurt. “Wait … do you know anything more about what happened?” Cooper, like everyone else, was reluctant to even talk about it. They’d spoken at the diner, very briefly, about the accident, and Cooper had claimed not to know much, but Kurt was learning about Cooper very quickly. It seemed Cooper only shared what he had to, and never more than needed. “You never said anything about hunters being involved before.”

“I didn’t know before.” Cooper snatched up the photo of their parent’s circle that Kurt had framed on his desk. “Since we last talked I’ve been poking my nose in where it doesn’t belong. I’ve been looking for buried information. Specifically from the elders who took our parent’s powers.”

Kurt could barely contain himself as he asked, “What did you find?”

Cooper set the picture down. “That hunters were there that day. Hunters were on that boat the same as our parents, and they were there by word of a truce. Then the hunters reneged on that, probably started slaughtering our parents, who likely fought back, and almost everyone died. That’s what I’m getting so far.”

“Wait. Wait.” That was too much information. Too much all at once, and it was startling information. Mind blowing. “So there were hunters that day? And they caused the accident?”

“I don’t know,” Cooper grit out. “I have all these pieces, but I can’t put the puzzle together yet. I don’t know what happened that night, but I do know the hunters were there. I know they were the ones who called the meeting. I know our parents believed that some kind of truce was going to be negotiated that night, and I know it ended up with a bunch of people dead, including everyone in our parent’s circle minus your dad and Sebastian’s mother.”

Kurt frowned. “But didn’t some of my circle’s parents survive?”

“Not the core members.” Cooper pointed to the picture again, clarifying, “A circle is six. From the start it’s always six. More can be added, and when it comes down to it, witches of complimenting bloodlines are drawn to certain circles. When most of our parents got married, their partners joined their circle, but originally it was just six. And as far as our parent’s circle goes, they were practically wiped out. The core members. Hummel and Smythe survived because they weren’t there. And that was just pure damn luck.”

Kurt wondered, “But wouldn’t a truce of some kind between the witches of this area and the hunters be viewed as a good thing? Why would the elders take the powers of the rest of the circle?”

“I don’t know,” Cooper said honestly. “But whatever caused the meltdown on that boat that day, it was bad enough to warrant the worst punishment a witch can suffer. I know witches who would rather burn than lose their power.”

Kurt swiveled on the chair or a moment, then asked, “Do you think you could find more out? About what happened?”

“Maybe,” Cooper said, eying Kurt. 

Kurt could see his reluctance and pushed, “These were our parents, Cooper. Your dad, my mom, Noah’s parents and so on and so forth. We lost our parents and we’ve had the truth kept from us as to why for so long. Our entire lives. I say we deserve to know what happened. We deserve the truth, and you might be the only one who can find it out.”

“It’s not as easy as you think,” Cooper said.

Kurt shrugged. “I didn’t think it would be. They wouldn’t have gone through so much to hide it from us, otherwise. But don’t you want to know? Don’t you?”

“Of course,” Cooper seethed, “I want to know who betrayed our parents. A great betrayal like this?”

Kurt froze and Cooper demanded to know what was wrong. 

Slowly, and deliberately, Kurt told him, “A great betrayal? I’ve heard that before. It’s in my Book of Shadows. And Rachel’s. And Noah’s. It’s in all of our books.”

There simply wasn’t enough information to draw any real conclusions, but Kurt could see Cooper thinking, trying to figure the puzzle out. He had a better chance of it than anyone else. 

Cooper said, “I’m not making any promises, but I can look into it further.”

Kurt gave him his appreciation and ran his fingers over the top of his mother’s picture. “I just want to know what happened to her. I want to know everything about her that my father would never tell me, and doesn’t have the opportunity to now.”

“You may not like what you find about her.”

Kurt gave him an odd look. “What does that mean?”

On that, Cooper was tight lipped.

“Cooper,” Kurt asked a few minutes later, “you said earlier that you weren’t bound by a circle’s requirement. Does that mean your circle isn’t bound? Or that you don’t have a circle at all?”

“No on both accounts,” Cooper said easily enough. “There was an opportunity for it once, but I passed it up. I was … selfish. I didn’t want to be bound by a circle or controlled or limited. I don’t know if it’s a regret or not, but it doesn’t matter. All that matters to me now is keeping your circle safe.”

Kurt offered, “What if we tell our parents? Well, your parents, my uncle? Some of them were witches. Some of them had to know something. At least a couple should be able to help in some way.”

Cooper shot down his idea so fast it was almost thunderous. Kurt thought at any second his uncle could barge in and demand to know what was going on. “Not an option.”

“Why not?”

“No. Trust me on this. They wouldn’t be able to help, and they’d try to make you stop practicing altogether. Witches are afraid of hunters these days. Witches fear them and their capabilities and what they’ll do. Witches would rather give in, now, than stand up for their magic. If you want to tell your uncle you know you’re a witch, go right ahead. But he’ll tell you to lay down and let the hunters walk right over you, in order to spare you any kind of fight.” Cooper added darkly, “For the magic we were born with, a fight is a small price to pay.”

That begged the question, something that Kurt had thought about once before but forgotten easily enough. “Is my uncle a witch? Or was he? You said our families dropped off the grid after the accident and they lost their magic. But was he a witch like my father? Magic runs in the blood. He had to be.”

Succinctly, Cooper said, “If he is, he never practiced openly and he never admitted it to anyone I know. But he was also eight when the accident happened. He would have been a child when the elders began stripping magic from witches. They might have overlooked him, or they might not have. Maybe he was just too young and he doesn’t know anything. But like I said, if he does, he’ll tell you to roll over and play dead.”

Kurt bit his tongue not to say anything more.

Cooper looked down at his watch and said, “Enough about that. I only came to let you know that I’m here, I’m watching out for this circle ,and you’re not alone. I will back you up, as long as you do your best not to instigate anything.”

“I think the whole circle knows how dangerous it is right now.”

“I certainly hope so,” Cooper said.

“Cooper?” Kurt stood from his chair and approached the man. “We’re going to be okay. The circle, that is. But about you an Blaine. You should think about going to see him. I know he was hurt when he found out you wanted to see me, but not him. And he’ll be hurt again when I tell the circle about this. Just go to him. He’s your brother. He’s not going to hate you or judge you for going away. He just wants you in his life. He loves you.”

Cooper hesitated. “It’s not safe.”

“Like this is?”

“No,” Cooper said, meaning something else. “For siblings of a strong bloodline. That’s part of the reason I went. I could make him a target if I’m near him. Siblings who come from pure, untarnished bloodlines, like the Anderson line, have some of the most desirable magic. I knew one day he’d have a circle, and I knew he’d bind his circle. It’s how Blaine is. And I knew if he did that, I couldn’t be here. I couldn’t make him the kind of target you are.”

“But I don’t have any siblings,” Kurt pointed out. 

“We shouldn’t be talking about this.”

Kurt didn’t understand the protest. He didn’t get why Cooper would end up making Blaine a target, but he couldn’t pretend that Cooper trusted him enough to really explain it. He supposed he really should’ve just been thankful for what he’d been told already.

“Think about it,” Kurt urged. “He’s not going to be in danger if you take five minutes to ask him if he’s okay, and tell him you love him. Right?”

“No,” Cooper said uneasily. 

Again, Kurt said, “Think about it. You’re going to be in town.”

Kurt expected Cooper to leave after that. It seemed like he’d said everything there was to say, and Kurt was halfway through trying to figure out how to sneak Cooper past his uncle when the man asked him a question that Kurt completely missed.

“I said,” Cooper stressed out, “did you get my package?”

“Package?”

“I sent it to you in the mail. You should have gotten it a while back.”

“Oh!” Kurt knew what he was talking about. “You didn’t put your name on it. I know now. I did get it.”

Predictably, Cooper said, “It wasn’t safe to label it with my name. And is it safe?”

“The box?” Kurt walked to his closet and opened the door. “Of course it’s safe.”

“You haven’t opened it,” Cooper said knowingly.

Kurt reached up for the box on the top shelf, and had to push past the one that Sebastian’s mother had given him. He remarked, “Is it some kind of tradition here to give people things in boxes they can’t open?” He pulled Cooper’s box down and showed it to him. “Because I can’t open it.”

“You should be able to.”

Kurt shook it a little, and when he did he could hear something heavy sliding around. “I’m supposed to be able to open something that doesn’t have a lock? I guess I could get a hatchet or axe from out back. I think my uncle has one.”

Cooped looked mortified. “You’ll break the protection spells on it!”

Kurt’s fingers traced over the pattern on top of the box. “That’s what this is?”

“Part of the spell is the carving of the symbols into a protected and fortified space.” Cooper’s open hand reached out to trace the symbols. “This box has protected some of the greatest treasures in the Anderson family for hundreds of years. You can’t just bust it open because there isn’t a lock. You’re a witch, Kurt, not a brute.”

“Ah.” Kurt looked at the box a bit differently. “Then it takes magic to open it. Well, why didn’t you send a note with it or something? Or give it to me personally? Who sends another person a box without a lock, that won’t open, and just expects them to know what to do?”

Cooper was less amused than Kurt had hoped for. “I sent it to you for safe keeping.”

“Why not Blaine? He’s an Anderson. I’m a Hummel. Shouldn’t it be his?”

“No,” Cooper shook his head, “And you’re not going to give it to him, or even show him before you get it open. It’s entrusted to you, because as far as I’m concerned, you’re representing your circle now. You get it open and you can do whatever you want with it. I know you’re going to want to show everyone anyway. But not before then. And yes, you’ll need magic to open it.”

Kurt wondered if the other box, the one Mrs. Smythe had given him, would open with magic as well.

“You know what’s in here already?” Kurt guessed. “But were you the one who put it in?”

Cooper grinned. “I wasn’t. I think it was my mother, but it’s hard to say. And yes, I do know what’s in it.”

Kurt slid the box back and forth again, listening to the object inside of it thump. “So what is it?”

Cooper was wordless.

“You’re not going to tell me. Really?” It was obviously something to do with magic. But why Cooper was being so evasive, Kurt couldn’t place.

Finally Cooper did tell him, “The object that is in the box, it’s there to protect it. And it’s in your care because I know you will. When you get the box open, you’ll understand. But you might want to pick up the pace. You don’t exactly have forever.”

A spell might open the box. If a spell had sealed it, to protect the contents, then it seemed like another spell was the logical choice. But which one? Maybe his book had some kind of clue. He regretted leaving it at the lighthouse with the others. He wondered what everyone else’s policy on photocopying some of the pages in the book might be, or scanning them onto a computer. 

“I’m going to head out,” Cooper said, already at the window.

“Is that how you got in?” Kurt asked, following him over.

Cooper explained, “There’s a vine-like hedge growing right up the side of the window, and it definitely feels magically produced, even if the power behind it is practically gone. I’d say it was your father’s doing, actually. Keep that in mind the next time you want to slip out without your uncle knowing. And don’t give me that look. I know you’ve done it once already. At least.”

“Go.” Kurt rolled his eyes. “Before Noah sees you next door and I have to explain all of this to him.”

Cooper slipped out the window easily enough and balanced on the vines outside the window. He told Kurt somberly, “Remember, keep the magic contained. Protect your circle. And get that box open.” Then Cooper started down and Kurt could only lean on the window thinking. 

In the morning Kurt was woken by his uncle knocking on his door and opening it. That wasn’t at all uncommon and it was routine enough that Knight leaped down from Kurt’s high bed and dashed through the crack in the door and was headed down the stairs by the sound of it.

“Already?” Kurt grumbled. Between the business with Cooper, and the hunters, and even Sebastian, tacked onto the already stressful midterm period at school, he felt like there weren’t enough hours in the day to sleep. More than once he’d napped during his lunch break at the café. 

His uncle, voice at a whisper said, “It’s earlier than normal.” And it was still dark outside, which meant it was probably right before, or just after six. Much earlier than Kurt usually got up for the eight-fifteen bell at school. “I just wanted to let you know I have to go into the hospital early this morning, so you have the handle breakfast on your own. And getting out the door on time. But I think you’re going to manage just fine.”

Kurt sat up, trying to untangle his feet from his blankets. “You’re leaving now?”

“As soon as I grab some coffee I’m out the door. I’ll leave some for you, but that doesn’t mean it’s okay to load up on it. Too much caffeine isn’t good for someone your age.”

Sleepily, Kurt said, “Thank you, doctor.”

The door to his bedroom pushed open all the way and his uncle reminded, “I’m getting you up now just to be safe. You’ve been known to roll over sometimes and go back to sleep.”

“I’m up. I’m up.” 

Kurt wandered to his closet, still trying to wake up as he heard his uncle shuffle downstairs, linger for only a minute, and then leave out the front door. The house was eerily quiet then and Kurt hurried to dress.

His uncle had left him half a pot of coffee, which was doable, and the sun was just starting to come up by the time he finished his toast. Working mostly on autopilot he pulled his chemistry book from his bag, determined to get a little extra studying in before school, and then realized that Knight was pacing back and forth in the foyer, a clear sign he needed to be let out to use the bathroom.

“I’m coming,” Kurt said. He felt like apologizing for not realizing sooner.

He yawned wide as he pulled open the front door. His dog dashed outside and Kurt shivered at the blast of cold air that hit him. It was certainly enough to wake him, and to give him notice of Sebastian’s car parked on the front street. The teen was inside, peering up at Kurt’s house.

Kurt didn’t know what to think of it. He wondered if he ought to just walk back inside and pretend he didn’t see. But eventually he sighed and waved at Sebastian, which seemed to be the cue he’d been waiting for.

“What are you doing here?” Kurt asked him, head turned as he looked for Knight. His dog had an unfortunate habit of getting distracted. 

Sebastian looked absolutely wretched, with his hair mused, his clothes wrinkled and a pale pallor to his skin. “Lurking. I’m apparently really good at that.”

When Knight came bounding back towards Kurt, business finished, Kurt let them all back into the house. “You are,” he agreed.

“And,” Sebastian said, bags under his eyes, “I really wanted to talk to you. Before I lose my nerve completely and go back to being a total asshole with very little explanation for it.”

Kurt wandered back to the kitchen for his mug of coffee. “I’m not really sure--”

Sebastian said quickly, “I have, and I know it, been a complete asshole. I know I can be standoffish, and hard to deal with. Difficult. I know that. I really do, and I never explain myself properly or have good excuses.”

Kurt asked, “Is this about last night? Because I realize I’m asking a lot of you. I’m asking you to make yourself vulnerable by opening up to me, and I don’t want you to do it if it isn’t right for you. So all you need to tell me is that we’re done with this topic, and the only thing we’ll ever talk about again is school, or circle business, or things like that. I can’t say my feelings for you will change, but I will respect your choice.”

“That’s just it,” Sebastian surged forward, a little desperate. “I don’t want this to be it.”

“Then …”

Sebastian held out a pale, shaking hand. He held it up and out to Kurt and asked, “Do you trust me?”

Kurt couldn’t say there was any hesitation in him. “Yes.” He reached out and placed his hand in Sebastian’s. “Why did you ask me that?”

“Because I want to show you something.” Sebastian gave him a gentle tug towards the door. “I have to, in order to explain everything and make you understand.”

“I can’t just go with you,” Kurt protested, trying to dig his heels in. “School starts soon.”

“We’re going to miss first period,” Sebastian said determinedly. “This is important.”

Kurt was able to grab his book bag and keys from the foyer before he and Sebastian were on their way down to the street. 

“Where are we going?” Kurt asked. The sun had come out, but there was barely any light out, most of it being blocked by gloomy, dark clouds. It wouldn’t be a surprise if it rained later on, or worse, stormed. They’d had unseasonably calm weather as of late, and Kurt couldn’t help thinking of it as the calm before the storm. 

Sebastian’s hands gripped the steering wheel tightly. “My house.”

They got there fairly quickly, and when they were through the front door Kurt asked, “Is your mother here?”

“Passed out in her bedroom,” Sebastian said with a flick of his wrist. “She’ll be out until noon, or maybe later. I don’t know what she took last night.”

Kurt shrugged. “So what did you want to show me?” 

He’d been in Sebastian’s house before, when he’d come to see the sick teen, but he’d been so focused then. He hadn’t stopped to look at anything, and he certainly hadn’t lingered. In fact he barely remembered being in the house. It all felt like a distant memory now.

Sebastian led him into the living room and asked, “Look around. What don’t you see?”

Kurt turned slowly. There was plenty of furniture. There were rugs on the floor, paintings on the walls and overall it was a very nicely decorated room. “I’m not sure.”

Sebastian took him to the family room after that, and through the kitchen, and along the straight hallway that ran through the bottom level of the house. “What’s missing?”

Kurt thought of his own house, the one back in Ohio. The one that had burned to the ground with his father in it. And then he thought to the house he now shared with his Uncle Andy. 

“The music room,” Sebastian said, pointing Kurt towards an open door at the end of the hall where a piano and several guitars, along with a display violin were visible. Sebastian urged, “Look at the walls. At the shelves. At the bookcases.”

It hit Kurt like a ton of bricks. “There are no pictures.” There were none of anyone. Not of Sebastian, not of his parents. No pictures at all. There were paintings of houses and landscapes, but no pictures of people.

Sebastian took Kurt’s hand, smiling at little at the gentle hum between them. “Now follow me to the study.”

The door was locked. That in and of itself seemed odd, but Sebastian had a key, an old looking brass kind that fit into an even older looking door.

“Why is it locked?” Kurt couldn’t help asking. 

A click sounded. “Because,” Sebastian said, “My mother doesn’t want anyone in here.” He didn’t reach for the door handle just yet. But Sebastian did tell Kurt, “The door wasn’t always locked. When I was little it was open. I guess my mom thought I was too young to want to be in here, not when I had all my toys upstairs. But I came in one day, I don’t even remember why, and I’ll never forget how she reacted.”

Kurt squeezed his hand. “What happened?”

“She shook me,” Sebastian said sourly. “She shook me hard and yelled at me, and said I wasn’t ever supposed to come in here again. She said she would hurt me if I did--spank me or worse--and that I needed to have respect for her things. She made me cry, and then I found her later that night, passed out in the bathroom. I thought she was dead. I called 911 in a panic because I thought my own mother was dead. She told the doctors, after they pumped her stomach, that she’d accidentally overdosed. They believed her, and she was much more careful after that.”

There was such pain in Kurt’s chest that he couldn’t imagine how Sebastian felt. It was all he could do to fold his arms tightly around Sebastian’s neck and hug him, mumbling, “I’m so sorry.”

“I was seven.”

Kurt’s mouth pressed along the side of Sebastian’s head as he asked, “What’s in the study?”

Sebastian held an arm tightly around Kurt’s waist as he pushed the door open. “I guess it’s the life she doesn’t want to let go.”

There were the pictures. Hundreds of them, probably. On the walls, propped up on shelves, covering the desk against the far wall, and stacked on side chairs because there wasn’t enough room for them all. And they were all the same. Scary in a way.

“Wow,” Kurt breathed out. 

“Freaky,” Sebastian corrected. “Completely freaky, maybe more for you than for me.”

They were all pictures of Kurt’s father. Or Kurt’s father and Sebastian’s mother. From childhood, through adolescence, and up to the adult years. Pictures of them at the water park, at the zoo, birthday parties and school functions and simple snapshots of them hanging out. Some of them were from dates, other of them kissing, and one from a school dance.

“I think,” Sebastian told him, “as a child I was just curious why she always came in here. Why she wanted to be in here, more than out in the real world with me.”

It was chilling how obsessed one person could be with another. And Kurt felt embarrassed for her.

Kurt picked up a silver framed picture of his father flashing a peace sign towards the camera. “She must have loved him so much. Your mother, I mean.”

Flatly, Sebastian said, “I’m telling you, she was head over heels in love with him, and I think she started to lose touch with the real world when he fell in love with your mother instead of her. I mean it when I say she really believed in them being fated to be together. She’s got the original parchment, four hundred years old, locked away in a safe that I don’t have the combination to, that talks about our two bloodlines being intended for each other.”

“Did my dad know this?” Kurt asked. “That Hummels and Smythes are supposed to be together?”

Sebastian shrugged, “She probably mentioned it. She had to have. But the fact is, everyone probably knew, and she was the only one who was clearly obsessed with it. I don’t know if she loved your dad because he was an awesome guy, or if she loved him because she believed she was supposed to. In any case, she did, and she never got over losing him. She hated that she lost him.”

“I can’t imagine losing the person you love,” Kurt said quietly.

“She acts like she’s the first Smythe to lose a Hummel.”

“Huh?” Kurt looked to him.

Annoyed, Sebastian said, “Hummels and Smythes are fated to be together, but they hardly ever are. For the most part, with rare exceptions, they don’t marry each other at all. We’re not, thank god, related by blood. It seems like every generation a Smythe and a Hummel try and make a go of it, but never quite get there. There’s always something that gets in the way. I think that’s why my mom was so determined to get you and me together. It’s the only way I can think she’d feel justified in feeding her kid the belief that he was born for one specific person, with no choice in the matter at all.”

“So she told you that as a kid? She never let you like other people? Or date? Or anything?”

“I never,” Sebastian ground out, “got to so much as show an interest in anyone else. At least not until high school, when she couldn’t even start to control me, and I started doing it on purpose, just to hurt her.”

“So you hate me because of what your mother did to you?” Kurt asked.

Sebastian blinked strangely, pulling Kurt back into a desperate hug. “I don’t hate you! How can you think that? No, Kurt. I hate the things she told me. I hate how she made it seem. I hate that she tried to control me and make me into what she wanted based on some stupid psychic who lived four hundred years ago. That’s what I hate. But you? I could never hate you.”

Kurt hugged him back gingerly. “I really am sorry for you.”

“I didn’t even know what my dad looked like until a few years ago,” Sebastian said.

“I didn’t know what my mom looked like either.” Kurt finally released Sebastian. 

Sebastian laughed darkly. “But that’s because your dad was trying to protect you from something. He was trying to keep you away from this place, and its secrets and everything linked to it. My mom didn’t keep pictures of my dad, or talk about him, or tell me anything about him even when I begged, because she didn’t love him and he was always just a place holder. That’s the difference, Kurt. She loved your dad, like she’s been trying to make me love you since birth.”

Kurt pushed over a nearby picture, one with the smiling faces of both of their parents turned up at the camera. “You can’t force someone to love anyone else. That’s what I’ve been trying to tell you, Sebastian. It just doesn’t worth that way.”

“It’s fate,” Sebastian said hotly. “I hate it, but that doesn’t mean I don’t believe in it. I think the proof is in the pudding. I’ve been attracted to you since the moment I saw you, and I couldn’t get away from you if I tried. We’re drawn together, our magic proves that. The both of us, when our magic connects, are stronger than the other four members of our circle combined.”

“That,” Kurt snapped, “might be true. We are stronger than they are. It may be our blood. It could also be this very ambiguous fate thing we’re talking about. But us having this connection, and us having a history in our family lines, certainly does not make me more predisposed to like you. The fact is, I like you because of your personality. Not because of how you make me feel. Not because of the magic. Not because you’re a Smythe. I like how exciting you are and unpredictable. That’s not fate.”

Sebastian wavered a little on his feet. “I hate not being in control. I hate conforming. I hate being told something and then not having any choice but to follow through. I … I like you, Kurt. I want to like you because I choose to.”

Kurt asked, “Why do you like me?”

He wasn’t sure he was going to get an answer until Sebastian said, “Other than the fact that you’re hot?”

“Other than that.”

“Because,” Sebastian tried, “You’re really selfless. You … put people before yourself, and worry about them, and I’m not saying you’re perfect, but you’re the closest I’ve seen in teenage form. And you’re witty and snappy and you’re quick on your feet. I say something to you and you have a quip ready to go. You don’t treat me like I’m an idiot, even when you say I am, and even then, I know it’s because you really like engaging me.”

“We have,” Kurt told him, “a push and a pull. It’s called being complimentary. And that is an aspect of our two personalities coming together. I promise you, I absolutely promise you, that if Blaine was a Smythe, I wouldn’t want to be with him. I wouldn’t be with him. Blaine is nice, but if you were an Anderson, I’d still want to be with you, and fate isn’t going to tell me otherwise.”

Sebastian cautioned, “Bad things happen to people who run away from their destiny.”

“And who gets to tell me what my destiny is?” Kurt challenged. 

Sebastian reached up to brush his fingers alongside Kurt’s jaw. “I really like you. More than I’ve ever liked anyone. I wanted to take you to the dance. I want to be able to kiss you whenever I like. I want to … to never have to see you go on a date with anyone else ever again.”

Kurt asked, “But?”

Fingers still, Sebastian said, “But I will always wonder if I feel that way because we have that compatibility thing, or if it’s because I’m supposed to feel that way.”

Kurt brought his own hand up to cover Sebastian’s. “My father was supposed to love your mother, if we’re going by your logic. He was supposed to be with her, and love her and spend the rest of their lives together. But he chose my mother instead. He chose to love someone else, of his own free will, and yes, I believe it was true love. My uncle believes it was true love, too. My father loved my mother enough to go against whatever destiny or fate is, and to have me, as a result of that love. He chose, Sebastian, in the same way that I am choosing you. The only difference is, his choice went against what was preordained, I guess you could say, and my choice just happens to go along with it.”

“You don’t think you’re being guided towards me?” Sebastian asked. “Pushed? Coerced in some way?”

Kurt had to shrug honestly. “I can’t know for sure. I don’t think we could ever know for sure. And if I am, then I am. But that doesn’t change that if you and I weren’t meant to be, I would still pick you. And that’s enough for me.”

There was the barest hint of pressure from Sebastian’s hand where he was cupping Kurt’s jaw, and then they were moving back against the room’s wall so fast that Kurt almost lost his footing. But instead Sebastian’s other arm was there, hooking around his waist, holding him up, and they were kissing hard and fast and desperate.

It was the best kiss of Kurt’s life, and as for the so called and much fabled fireworks that people claimed to see, as Sebastian kissed him soundlessly, the picture frames around them rattled and some clambered to the floor. The clock across the room fell from its perch on the wall and Kurt pulled Sebastian closer.

“I don’t care,” Sebastian said finally, resting against Kurt, breathless and pleased, “I really don’t care if I’m supposed to be with you or not. I don’t. Because you are … perfect. I … this is right. I can feel it and I want you and I’m not going to let anyone tell me anything about what I feel or what I’m supposed to feel.”

Kurt leaned up for another kiss, catching the side of Sebastian’s mouth. “We make our own destiny, Sebastian. We make our own choices, control our own lives, and we love who we want to love.”

With a shudder, Sebastian admitted, “I don’t know if I’m going to be good at this boyfriend thing. I’ve never been anyone’s boyfriend before.”

“Neither have I,” Kurt said.

“And I can be a douche.”

“I’m very aware of that already.”

Kurt didn’t think he could ever let go of Sebastian. It felt so good to be wrapped up in his arms, and to be able to offer a kind of comfort in return that he knew instinctively Sebastian needed more than anything else in that moment. 

Shakily, Sebastian said, “When my mom finds out about us, she’s never going to shut up about it. She’ll be worse than she is now. And she’s already pretty bad. Every day she asks me if I’ve won you over.”

“Hey,” Kurt said softly, hands framing Sebastian’s face. He kissed the teens forehead and said, “You have. You’ve won me over, so that’s that. But more importantly, I don’t care about what she has to say or even what she thinks. I care about you and I care about us. That is what’s important. Agreed?”

Sebastian bowed his head against Kurt’s. “The first time I saw you I thought I was drowning. I couldn’t breathe and it was like my lungs had closed up on me. I knew who you were before your name even came into play. I could feel your magic and I could feel you. I knew I was going to love you, just like my mother said, and that terrified me.”

Kurt shushed him. “You spent so much time rebelling against your mother and this thing called fate. And I absolutely hate the idea that my father dying and me coming here could have been some kind of unavoidable chain reaction to right the act of my father leaving so long ago. But if it is the case. If fate, though pain and hurt and loss, brought me here, at least I have you. I have you and I don’t care how I got you and I’m not going to give you up.”

“I feel like a simpering idiot,” Sebastian said, wetness on his cheeks. “Whining and bitching.”

“No more talking then,” Kurt decided, sliding his fingers up through Sebastian’s hair. “More making out, I think.”

Sebastian didn’t need to be told twice. 

When they’d kissed and kissed, and kissed until Kurt couldn’t catch his breath anymore, and his lips were hurting and his heart was full, it was finally time to get back to the real world, and the school they were already late for.

Sebastian walked with Kurt to the car and made sure he was clear as he said once more, “I really do think I’m going to be shit at this boyfriend thing. I wasn’t lying when I said I’d never been one. I don’t really know how to not annoy people after being around them for a long amount of time. I’m forgetful and I’m not selfless like you, and like I said, you’re smoking hot, but I can’t promise I’m never going to look.”

Kurt thought for a moment, then decided, “We’re going to both make mistakes. I’m not as piteous as you seem to think I am. But we’re going to learn how to be boyfriends together. Plus, you never know, I might forget sometimes, I have a lot on my plate right now. And when we start to annoy each other, we’ll take a break from spending so much time together. We both have different sets of friends, along with the ones we share. I think a day or two apart would do us good no mater what.”

“What about the looking thing?”

“The looking thing?” Kurt arched an eyebrow. “If I catch you, I’m probably going to smack you over the back of the head.”

Sebastian stole a kiss before rounding to his side of the car and getting in. “Fair enough.”

Kurt continued, “But you’re overlooking one very important thing.”

“What’s that?” Sebastian started the car buy kept it idle as he waited for Kurt’s response.

Feeling a rush of courage, Kurt turned in his seat towards Sebastian and wet his lips. “I’m planning on rocking your world so hard, and making it so worth your while that you’re going to forget there are other people on this planet besides me.”

Sebastian froze.

Kurt beamed. 

“I …” Sebastian fumbled for words, then just blew out a deep breath. “Jesus Christ.”

“Just so we understand each other,” Kurt added.

Sebastian put the car into gear looking dazed. “Completely.”


	13. Chapter 13

Chapter Twelve:

 

“I’ve got something for you.”

Kurt looked away from where he’d been fiddling with his cufflinks nervously. “Sorry?”

Sebastian cracked a grin. “Kurt. Breathe. You look like this is the first performance we’ve ever given. You also look like you’re going to suffocate yourself with worry.”

Kurt let his hands fall down by his side. “I’m not going to suffocate myself, thank you very much.” He gave Sebastian a long expression. “And as far as I’m concerned, this is the most important performance. The one that counts.”

Tucking a hand into his suit jacket, Sebastian shrugged. “We did the spring concert three weeks ago, and the special presentation to the school board during Art and Music week.”

“And tonight,” Kurt stressed, “we were invited to perform. The people out there paid for their tickets. And I know you can hear Susan Hoffman and her four member cellist group amazing everyone. We’re going to get out there and they’re going to hate us, and we’re going to--”

Sebastian’s cut him off with a light kiss, one hand wrapped around Kurt’s waist and the other framing his jaw. “I have it on good authority that no one could ever hate you. Me, maybe. But you, not so much. And we’re good. Really good. I feel like we’ve done nothing but practice lately. So stop worrying. Is it because your uncle couldn’t be here tonight?”

Kurt shook his head, leaning against Sebastian with a sigh. “He’s been to every single performance we’ve had so far, and I know he wanted to be here. But I guess when the hospital calls, and they’re short staffed and have an emergency, you have to go. I understand. I’m not upset.”

“Then what is it?” Sebastian’s hands slid down to hold his arms.

“Just nervous.”

“We already covered how awesome we are,” Sebastian said. “There’s no reason to be nervous.”

As far as boyfriends went, not that Kurt really had much to base his conclusion off of, Sebastian’s wasn’t as horrible as the teen had feared he would be. In fact, Kurt thought he was quite good at it. They had petty fights from time to time, and they certainly did need their space from each other, but as March turned to April, Kurt could honestly say he’d found happiness with Sebastian. And whether he wanted to admit it or not, Sebastian could be quite the gentleman. 

Sebastian, for all the selfishness he seemed to think he was capable of, was very selfless when it came down to it. He made Kurt feel like Kurt was the only one who mattered to him. He made Kurt a priority, and thought of Kurt first, and it was a nice feeling. Kurt tried to return the sentiment, but mostly basked in the feeling. And tried to make Sebastian aware of how much he appreciated it all.

“Nervous?” Sebastian balked. “I’ve never seen you nervous for anything in your life. I don’t believe you get nervous.”

Kurt leaned against the wall of the hallway that led down the corridor and to the stage area that they were set to perform in shortly. “Contrary to popular belief, apparently.”

Sebastian made a quick pat of his pocket, then repeated, “I got you something. You almost made me forget.” He reached into his pocket and pulled out a folded piece of tissue paper.

“You got me something?” Kurt asked. He should have gotten Sebastian something. This night was important. He couldn’t believe Sebastian had gotten him something, but he hadn’t returned the favor.

“So I was thinking,” Sebastian said, “that even though we agreed, and we’re not buying into this Smythe and Hummel thing, you’re still wearing the bracelet.”

Kurt lifted his arm instinctually, the sleeve pulling back to reveal the silver charm bracelet that he’d found hidden away by his father. In light of all the new information he had about his father and Sebastian’s mother, it had almost been enough to take the bracelet off. Why his father had kept it, Kurt would never know. Maybe he hadn’t been able to let go completely just like Mrs. Smythe. But the truth was, Kurt liked it. He liked the charms that hung from it, he liked the weight of it, and he liked the feel of it against his skin. In was infused with magic and it was sort of like a nightlight.

“I like it,” Kurt defended quietly, a little ashamed. “It’s beautiful.”

“You are,” Sebastian said deliberately, causing Kurt to roll his eyes. “But it’s a bracelet that your dad gave my mom to tell her he loved her, and wanted to be with her, right before he broke her heart. Look, I’m not blaming him or anything, he got to choose not to love her, just like I get to decide if I want to love you some day.” The last part was mumbled and Kurt felt flushed. “But considering the history, and the fact that we’re now dating, it feels a little … incestuous to me. If things had been different we could have been like … brothers.”

“We wouldn’t be dating then.”

“No,” Sebastian agreed. “But regardless of all that, it still feels strange to me to see you wearing the bracelet that your dad gave my mom. Those charms on it, they mean things to them, not to us. And I want to change that.”

That sounded fair enough. “How?” Did Sebastian want him to take the bracelet off? He hadn’t said that.

“So I got you this,” Sebastian said, suddenly sounding nervous, like the first time he’d invited Kurt over to work on their concert piece and they’d ended up making out on his bed for close to half an hour.

Kurt took the folded tissue paper from him and unwrapped it quickly. “Sebastian,” he breathed out when he saw what it was. “I love it.”

The nervousness dissipated immediately from Sebastian’s face as he held Kurt’s pale wrist in his hand. “I was thinking that maybe we’d start replacing their memories with our own. My charms for your dad’s charms.”

Kurt held out the tiny piano charm for Sebastian. “I think that’s a wonderful idea, and it’s beautiful and I love it.”

Off came the first charm on the bracelet, a tiny replica shoe that could have meant anything. But to them it was nothing, and Sebastian’s fingers were hot as they fitted the piano on instead, digits brushing over the prominent veins on the inside of Kurt’s wrist.

“We’re going to knock them dead,” Sebastian promised. “Me and you. We’re going to be fine.”

Were they talking about the concert? Kurt didn’t care. He only turned his wrist to catch Sebastian’s hand fully, and pull him closer. “You had nothing to worry about in the boyfriend department,” Kurt promised him, and then kissed him.

“Smythe and Hummel?”

Kurt peeked around Sebastian to see one of the event coordinators, a short girl wearing a radio clipped to the front of her black slacks.

“That’s us,” Kurt laughed. “Always Smythe and Hummel.”

Sebastian decided, “A good combination. Right?”

Kurt pecked him on the cheek as he passed, “The best.”

So his uncle wasn’t there, and Kurt hadn’t been lying when he said he wasn’t upset, but he was disappointed. The events they’d played before had been school functions and nothing serious. This was different. This was a black tie, theater event. But he tried not to think about who wasn’t there, because it was too easy to know his father would have wanted to be there in the front row. His father was the kind of guy who would have bought tickets for everyone at the shop and then closed down for the night and made everyone go.

The circle was there, however. Kurt knew for a fact that Noah had whined and complained about getting dressed up, and Blaine had wanted nothing more than to stay home with his brother who, much to Kurt’s relief, had begun dropping by to see him once in a while. But they were all there, Quinn looking absolutely stunning in her lacy white dress, and Rachel next to her in something less flattering, but still supportive.

It almost made up for the fact that Sebastian’s mother wasn’t there, not that Kurt really thought that was a bad thing, considering how she’d been reacting to his relationship with Sebastian. Suffocating them, really. But as uncomfortable as she was making Kurt feel, she was still Sebastian’s mother, and he knew, even if he couldn’t admit it, he would have wanted her there.

They played two pieces, the first relative short, and the second so long that Kurt lost himself in the music. He could hear his piano, and he could hear Sebastian’s violin, and there was the pounding of adrenaline in his ears, but nothing else. He barely moved, he barely breathed and he barely thought. He didn’t even know it was over until Sebastian was pulling him up off the piano bench for their thunderous applause.

Sebastian said, “Wow,” beside him as they bowed, but anything else was lost under the sound of the crowd.

Their music teacher was to the side, in a crumpled suit, looking like he was going to die from glee. No doubt he thought he deserved all the credit. But the man was harmless, and Kurt was inclined to give it to him just to make him feel happy.

He and Sebastian stumbled their way off stage and with a rush of excitement Kurt explained, “That was perfect! Our best performance ever.”

Sebastian drew him into a long kiss, hands grasping at the front of Kurt’s suit jacket, unwilling to let him go. 

There was a small intermission break after that, mostly spent locked in the women’s bathroom where Kurt pushed Sebastian up against the heavy door and kissed him senseless, but after they went back to the theater and took their seats for the rest of the concert.

“I told you,” Sebastian whispered in his ear, “nothing to be nervous about.”

Kurt felt the piano charm press into his skin as his arm stretched out on the seat’s rest. “I had a new good luck charm.”

Sebastian gave snort. “We’re witches, Kurt. We can make our own luck if we want to. There are real charms for that.”

Kurt wouldn’t be dissuaded from the idea that his new charm was lucky, and curled his fingers up to touch it as they watched a beautiful string ensemble perform several pieces from the Nutcracker Suite. 

“You were amazing,” Quinn told Kurt after the concert had ended and people were beginning to trickle out of the theater. There were refreshments being served in the lobby, and by the time she was hugging and congratulating him, he’d had several glasses of cider, and Sebastian had managed to smuggle them each a half glass of real white wine. 

“You both were highlights,” Rachel said, sharing a nod with Blaine. “I personally prefer show turns and more theatrical pieces of music, but as far as the genre goes, you were memorable. Better than average.”

Dryly, Sebastian thanked her.

Kurt wasn’t a drinker. In fact, he’d had half of his father’s beer a year earlier and ended up a giggling mess on the floor of his bathroom for an hour. So it wasn’t to say that he didn’t like alcohol, but only that he didn’t really have a tolerance for it. He was thankful for the half glass of wine, but not so much for the cider that had come before.

He told Sebastian, “I have to run to the bathroom.” They’d carpooled together from Sebastian’s house where they’d gotten ready, and it was where they planned to go after they finished at the theater. It had taken nearly a day of pleading a begging to get his uncle to relent to him going home with Sebastian afterward, and a sworn statement that no matter what, nothing heavier than PG-13 would happen. Even then, when Kurt had promised, his uncle had barely allowed it. 

“I can go with you,” Sebastian said, putting his empty glass on the serving tray of a waiter headed out with other dirty dishes. 

Kurt looked pointedly at him. “When we go to the bathroom together we usually end up doing something a lot different than actually using it.”

Noah made a face. “I really didn’t need to hear that.”

Quinn shrugged, “I could hear more.”

Kurt shook his head and snagged a short kiss from Sebastian. He’d never pegged himself as a public affection kind of guy. But he felt there was something classy in the way he and Sebastian kissed, never lewd in public and never for more than a few seconds. And it was thrilling to know he had a boyfriend he could kiss any time he wanted to. So he guessed the urge to show affection in public to Sebastian was more about him actually getting to show his boyfriend off, than anything else. 

“I’ll be back in fifteen minutes,” he promised, and headed off towards the bathroom.

He really had to go, but the nearest bathroom was closed for cleaning, and the next nearest was down as well. When he stopped to ask some of the theater staff they pointed him towards a smaller bathroom at the back of the theater where he was the only one there.

It was actually kind of creepy. And uncomfortable. There was a thickness in the air that he didn’t like and he wanted to get away from as soon as possible.

The door behind him opened just as he was drying his hands with a paper towel. He tossed it away to the garbage quickly and then looked himself over in the mirror, straightening his skinny tie and pulling his shirt smooth.

When the turned to leave there were two men blocking the door. They were stone faced and looked out of place in more rugged, causal clothing. 

“Excuse me,” Kurt said, wanting to push past them. The tiny bathroom was giving him a sense of claustrophobia.

“Kurt Hummel,” the first of the two men said, arms folded across his chest. “I’m going to need you to come with me.”

Kurt took a step back, bumping the nearest sink. “Why?”

The second of the men lurched forward and off the door he’d been leaning on. There was a cold, calculating, dangerous look on his face. “That wasn’t a request.”

Wrong. This was wrong. These men were wrong. Something was wrong. Wrongwrongwrongwrong.

Then this magic screamed out at him as the first man lunged at his midsection. The other had a curved knife in hand.

It happened so fast and in such a blur that Kurt couldn’t really recall much of anything. He only knew that these men were bad, and they wanted to take him somewhere, and hurt him, and if he went, he was as good as dead. So he screamed, and his hands clenched into fists, his eyes closed, and he lost himself.

When he came back, breathing hard and sweating, the light overhead was flickering, the mirror was in a thousand, million pieces on the floor, and both men were lifeless. The first, the one who’d tried to grab him, was littered with glass mirror cuts, some tiny and others large gashes. The second was through a dented, twisted and warped bathroom stall. He was wedged down between the wall and the busted toilet that was spurting water, and was bleeding profusely from a head wound. 

Kurt pressed a hand to his mouth as he fought to breath, unsure what had happened, and then a phone rang, the sound coming from one of the bodies.

Kurt ran.

His legs pumped, his chest burned and he ran. He flew through the back, emergency door, setting off fire alarms and warning sounds, and out into the cold, black night. He paid none of it any mind, still running, still desperate and still scared.

His frantic rush took him around the back of the theater, out in the parking lot which was almost completely empty of cars, and mostly unlit, and towards the street behind.

The sound of wheels spinning and an engine revving barely penetrated his ears before a van came careening towards him, headed for a dead on collision.

Kurt skidded to a stop, hands out in front of him, and braced for impact.

The van crunched. It was the best way Kurt could think of it. It crunched before it hit him, like it had hit an invisible way, compacting the front cab and sending a ripple effect down the rest of it, smashing out windows and tearing metal.

Kurt froze and time stopped.

Had he done that? Had he done whatever happened in the bathroom, too? Was his magic out of control? It wasn’t supposed to be. He’d bound the circle. He’d cut off his individual magic. He shouldn’t have been capable of anything like what was happening to him in that moment.

Not only had the van stopped and crumpled up, but it had also overturned at the impact, and as Kurt knelt down to the asphalt, dizzy from his thoughts, a door creaked open and a bloody, staggering man broke free.

“Witch!”

Kurt’s attention jerked to him. “I …”

The man had a gun. He had a gun and he had it pointed at Kurt. He was going to kill him. This man, whoever he was, wanted to kill Kurt.

“Witch,” the man repeated again, arm waving as he shook off his own dizziness. 

Hunter. Kurt knew. Hunter.

“I don’t,” Kurt tried, still getting his breath back, “want to hurt you.”

“Did you kill them?” the man asked, hammer cocking back on the gun. “Did you kill my brothers?”

Wincing Kurt guessed, “Those guys who tried to grab me? In the backroom?”

“Speak, witch,” the man demanded, “And know that if a single lie passes from your lips, I will kill you.”

“You tried to run me over!” Kurt snapped. He kind of thought that’s what they planned to do to him anyway. “And I don’t know. I don’t know, okay? Maybe. They just attacked me and I panicked.” He rubbed his forehead and he felt so sick. “Why are you doing this?”

A second man started to lurch himself from the overturned van, this one clearly more unsteady however. 

The man with the gun said, “You had your chance, witch. You had your warning.”

“I didn’t,” Kurt said, falling back to a kneeling position. He couldn’t stand. His legs were like rubber. And he was going to die. “There was no magic. I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“You can’t be allowed to live.” The hunter pulled the trigger.

It was, to Kurt, as if time had no meaning. Between the moment in which the gun discharged, and the moment the hunter began to choke and die, there was all the time in the world, and none at all. Meaningless time, filled with thoughts of Kurt’s uncle, and how he’d tried so hard to make Kurt feel loved and welcomed. Sebastian, who was such a hard shell to crack, but absolutely worth it in the end. Noah and Quinn who were the best listeners, Blaine who had bee the one to bring him to his future circle, and Rachel who pushed him to be better and better. He thought of all of the things that mattered, and all of the things worth protecting. 

The people he would kill for.

He wanted the hunter to die. Kurt wanted him to die so he could never pose a threat to Kurt’s circle or his family.

Maybe that was why the bullet exploded just after being dislodged from the gun’s chamber. Maybe it was why the hunter fell to his knees, gasping and choking and dying. And it could have been the reason for why the hunter still in the van, a threat waiting to happen, went catapulting in to the sky and then crashing down to the hard ground with a sick crack.

They died, and Kurt lived. 

The sound of people running and shouting came after. 

He didn’t know how long it was before Sebastian had him locked in an almost painful embrace, and Noah was shielding his back from the prying eyes of people trying to determine what had happened.

“Are you okay?” Sebastian begged and pleaded, “Tell me you’re okay!”

“Accident,” Kurt mumbled at them all. “They almost hit me.”

Rachel thought for a minute, then took off towards one of the larger crowds.

Blaine put a firm hand on the back of Kurt’s neck and said, “Rachel is going to go defuse the situation. She’ll get the eyes turned away from you.”

Kurt’s arms wrapped tightly around Sebastian’s neck and he whispered into the teen’s ear, “Hunters.”

“We need to get out of here,” Quinn urged. “Rachel can only buy us so much time.”

“I parked just down the street,” Sebastian said.

Kurt felt like he was only half walking. Sebastian was still pressed in close as they moved quickly towards the car, and Sebastian, who was stronger than he looked, was almost pulling him up off his feet. Kurt just let it happen. He was too exhausted and too frightened and too unsure.

“What in the hell was that?” Noah demanded when they got in Sebastian’s car. He sat in the passenger seat as Blaine drove them away, Kurt practically laid out in the back on both Sebastian and Quinn. He tried to concentrate on the way Sebastian hugged him warmly, and Quinn’s fingers in his hair.

“Hunters,” Kurt mumbled, repeating now what he’d only dared to whisper at Sebastian on the scene. “They … attacked me. In the bathroom. Two of them. They wanted me to go with them, and I ran and then … I don’t know. I just don’t know.”

Quietly, Noah said to Blaine, “Did you see those guys in the road?”

“Kurt,” Blaine cleared his throat, “What happened to the van? And to those hunters?”

Sebastian folded protectively around Kurt. “Can’t you just leave him alone?”

“I don’t know,” Kurt answered Blaine. “ I really don’t.”

“He doesn’t,” Sebastian said sounding annoyed. “So leave him alone. He’s in shock. Look at him. You don’t get to play inspector detector with him right now.”

Against Sebastian’s shirt, Kurt mumbled, “They were waiting. The whole night. They were just waiting. They tried to take me, and then they tried to kill me. They had a gun.”

“Is that very hunter-y?” Noah asked. “Shouldn’t they have like, crossbows or something?”

“Because we’ve still stuck in the seventeenth century?” Quinn demanded. “Hunters don’t have magic. And if they did, they wouldn’t use it. Not even on us. So I guess they have to work with what they have. And guns are a lot more proficient than crossbows.”

Blaine pursed his lips, then said, “Sebastian, I’m going to drop you and Kurt and Quinn off at your house, and then Puck and I are going right back for Rachel. We’re vulnerable right now. Especially on our own. I think tonight just proved that. Can we meet up after? Is your mom going to be there?”

“I don’t know,” Sebastian said absently. His fingers brushed through the fringe across Kurt’s forehead. “I guess. I mean, I don’t think she’s going to be there. She was still at the café, sleeping it off in the back room when I checked last. You and Berry and Puck come back in about an hour just so I can be sure.”

Blaine was peeling rubbed to get back to the theater fifteen minutes later as Sebastian and Quinn helped Kurt into the house. 

“Where should we put him?” Quinn asked, huffing a little under Kurt’s weight.

“I’m okay,” Kurt told them softly. “I just want to sit down.” The adrenaline was gone now and he was feeling sleepy. Worn out. Drained. He wasn’t sure how much longer he could remain on his feet, but he wasn’t going to die. Not like those hunters. Never like them.

Sebastian led them to the stairs. He told Kurt, “You let me crash in your bed when I needed it, so I’m going to return the favor. Come on. Up the stairs. I’m the first door on the right, Quinn.”

Kurt felt a bit like a baby as they sat him down on the edge of Sebastian’s bed, Quinn working his shoes off and Sebastian pulling his tie free.

“Lay back,” Sebastian said gently, guiding Kurt to stretch out. “You look so pale.”

Quinn decided, “I’m going to get you a glass of water from the kitchen.”

When they were alone Sebastian sat right by his side and pushed once more at his hair playfully, kissing his forehead, and then his mouth. “No more scaring the shit out of me like that, okay? We heard crashing and screaming and I got that pull in my stomach. The one that I always get when you’re in trouble. I thought my head was going to explode.”

“Sebastian,” Kurt said wearily, “I’m so scared.”

“I won’t let them hurt you again,” Sebastian promised fiercely. “Never again.”

Sebastian had it wrong. That was all Kurt could think about as his boyfriend kissed him again, tucking in next to him, mumbling about how they’d be okay. Kurt wasn’t afraid of the hunters. He’d fought them and beaten them. And he’d do it again if he had to. He’d kill them all. 

That was what terrified him. More than anything else. He was scared of himself, and what he was capable of.

He went to sleep with the very real notion he’d killed those hunters without thinking twice. And he’d done it on purpose with his magic, and without his circle. He’d done the impossible, and he didn’t know what it meant for any of them.

He woke up some time later to the quiet mumblings of voices. And when he blinked his eyes open, curling to the side to sit up, he could see everyone was in Sebastian’s room, huddled in a small circle on the floor, aside from Sebastian who was perched at the end of the bed.

“You shouldn’t have let me sleep,” Kurt told them.

“You needed it,” Sebastian said.

On the floor Quinn pulled her legs closer to her body an said, “We were just talking about what happened.”

Taking his cue, Blaine rose to his feet and said, “I already talked to my brother. He left me an emergency phone number the last time we talked. I think this counts as an emergency.”

Kurt cleared is throat, still trying to get his bearings, and asked, “What did he say?”

“He was confused,” Blaine sighed out. “And angry. He sees it as a personal attack against him, I think. I wouldn’t be surprised if he went on the warpath. He seems to have a soft spot for you.”

Noah piped up, “What I want to know is why. Why would they attack Kurt like that? They gave us our warning, and none of us have been practicing, right? We agreed to hold off on anything magical, just to be safe.”

Something guilty flashed on Blaine’s face, and Kurt asked, “Did they have a reason to attack our circle? Blaine?”

All eyes turned to Blaine, and he looked away.

“You’ve been using magic!” Sebastian demanded, shooting to his feet. “You idiot! It’s your fault Kurt was hurt and almost killed. You stupid--”

“Sebastian!” Kurt snapped roughly. “Let Blaine talk.”

“I ….” Blaine started.

Quinn said definitively, “You have, haven’t you?”

“Yes,” Blaine admitted quietly. “But we were being so careful.”

The omission was not missed. 

“We?” Kurt wondered.

“Don’t look at me.” Quinn raised both her hands, and the look on Noah’s face said it certainly wasn’t him.

Kurt thought to weeks earlier when he and Sebastian had decided to put fate and destiny to the side and make their own future. Their magic had twined together, like it usually had a habit of doing, and it was impossible to miss the backlash of it when they kissed. But did that count as actively doing magic? It wasn’t something they could help, not really. 

“We did it for the benefit of this circle!” Rachel justified loudly.

Kurt groaned. He should have known better. She was ambitious. And she hadn’t liked to be told not to practice the magic that she always wanted to use so freely.

Noah asked darkly, “Were you just going to keep your mouth shut the whole time, Berry? Let Anderson take the fall for you completely?”

Rachel gave a sound of protest.

Kurt mused aloud, “So that’s why they attacked me. The circle.”

“Open season on witches,” Sebastian whistled out. “The last thing we needed.”

Very sincere looking, Blaine told Kurt, “I’m really sorry about what happened tonight. You know I’d never want anything to happen to you. I can’t tell you enough how sorry I am. But Rachel thought we weren’t going to be ready for when the hunters came, if we didn’t keep practicing and getting better. I agreed.”

Noah asked, “But would they have come at all if you two had kept your noses clean?”

Kurt threw his legs over the side of Sebastian’s very comfortable bed and let them all know, “I’m sure they would have. No, Noah, I’m not saying what Rachel and Blaine did was okay. They sparked an incident that did hurt me, and hurt the whole circle, and is going to bring us nothing but trouble. But the hunters weren’t ever just going to go away. Cooper knew, and I knew and I know you all knew, too. As much as we wanted to hope, we knew the truth.”

Still seeming very sorry, Blaine bowed his head. “I’m going to do everything I can to make this up to you, Kurt.”

With a sigh, Quinn asked, “So what are we going to do now?”

“Cooper is going to come by tomorrow,” Blaine said. “He promised. He’ll get us up to date with as much as he can, and we’ll get a plan going from there.”

Establishing order was the first business. Kurt certainly wasn’t the leader. He couldn’t be, not in a circle that had no such thing. But he did feel responsible for the circle, even more now that he’d killed several hunters and likely made things worse.

Kurt said, “We were being careful before, but at least for the next few days, we have to be even more so. Groups at all times, even in our homes. We’re going to have to start sleeping over with each other, and carpooling to school, and doing whatever it takes. Hunters died tonight. They died and they’re going to want to hurt us for it, even more than before.”

“Take my car,” Sebastian said, tossing his keys to Noah. “You’re in charge of making sure everyone stays together for right now, and they all get back to their cars and homes. Kurt will stay with me tonight and we’ll meet back up tomorrow first chance we get.”

Noah agreed to crash on Quinn’s couch for the night, and together with Blaine and Rachel they poured out of Sebastian’s bedroom and towards the street.

They had barely been alone a minute when Sebastian asked, “How’d you do it?”

Their fingers fitted together. “How did I kill them?”

Sebastian nodded. “I kept the others distracted from asking that question the best I could. But there were casualties and you were unarmed. How did it happen?”

“I don’t know,” was what Kurt freely admitted. “In the bathroom I was so scared. They wanted me to go with them, and one of them tried to grab me. The other had a knife. I just panicked and reacted. It … it wouldn’t be the first time I’ve done some kind of accidental magic.”

Sebastian hummed. “But that was before we bound the circle. There’s no way we’re supposed to have individual magic of any serious kind without at least one other circle member present. How did you use magic without one of us there?”

Again, Kurt said, “I really don’t know. I don’t. But it happened in the bathroom, and again in the parking lot. Sebastian, how am I doing something that’s impossible?”

Sebastian had no answer, only a comforting squeeze for Kurt’s hand. “Maybe it was just a fluke. Magic tends to have a mind of its own when we’re in danger.”

“Twice?”

“I don’t know either.”

It was late, past midnight, and Sebastian helped Kurt change into a pair of pajamas that fit him just a little awkwardly. Kurt climbed back in bed, pulling the blankets to his waist and frowned at Sebastian who was gathering up an extra pillow and blanket from the closet in his room. 

“Where are you going?”

Sebastian looked down at his pillow and blanket, then over to Kurt. “To bed.”

Kurt eyed the spot next to him on the bed. “You have a queen sized bed.”

“I believe there was a promise made to your uncle about keeping everything PG-13.”

“So?” Kurt shrugged.

“I have rated R and above wandering hands when it comes to you, your hips, and the idea of you in my bed.”

Kurt made an annoyed grunt, feeling tired again, and scooted to the other side of the bed. “Get in, Mr. Smythe. I know you remember the Winchester rifle that hangs above my uncle’s fireplace. That’s reminder enough for you to keep those rated R hands strictly on your side.”

Sebastian didn’t make much of a fuss about climbing in next to him, and they spooned together easily, like they’d been doing it for ages. Kurt held tight to the arm Sebastian wrapped around his stomach and he closed his eyes as one of Sebastian’s legs slid innocently enough between his. 

In the quiet of the room, Kurt asked, “Do you remember when I told you I was scared?”

“Still scared?” Sebastian asked, no teasing in his tone.

“I wasn’t scared about the hunters,” he corrected. “You thought I was, and I let you.”

“What were you scared about then?” Sebastian’s nose hit the back of Kurt’s neck and they were pressed in so close Kurt couldn’t decide where he started and were Sebastian ended. “You know you can tell me anything.”

Kurt didn’t want to tell him. Not really. He was ashamed. But Sebastian’s words rang true, and he begrudgingly said, “I’m scared of myself. You don’t know, Sebastian, how easy it was to do it. I killed the first two without even thinking about it, and the next two on purpose. I was acting out of fear and the other emotions that we tell ourselves we can’t practice magic while we’re feeling. Only I couldn’t stop it because it was happening so easily for me. What’s going to happen the next time someone gets me mad? The next time something goes a way I don’t want it to? This is the reason we bound the circle. What was the point if it didn’t matter at all?”

“The point is that your life was at stake.” Sebastian’s fingers spread out across his stomach. “They were going to kill you. Or take you and do horrible things to you. In either case, you were defending yourself. I get that you’re scared, and I’m scared for you. But I’m not scared of you, and I know what kind of person you are. We’re going to figure this out, and why it’s happening, and fix it.”

“It was intoxicating,” Kurt said with a shudder. “When I got lost in the moment I wanted everything to burn. And I didn’t care about the consequences. I fought back to protect myself and my circle, but by the end I only cared about what I was feeling.”

Simply, Sebastian said, “We’re going to talk to Cooper tomorrow. He’ll have answers.”

Kurt didn’t know what they’d do if he didn’t.

Cooper was, to say the least, furious when he heard that Rachel and Blaine had sparked the confrontation. It had taken long, agonizing minutes to get him to stay and talk with them. But finally, finally he sat and listened and told them what he could about the days that would follow, which wasn’t much. He also didn’t know who the hunters were exactly, and seemed distracted by something.

As the meeting wrapped to the close, Cooper drew Kurt to the side and asked, “Are you alright?”

Kurt nodded a little numbly. “Getting there.”

Sebastian was watching them from across the room, and there was just enough time for Cooper to say, “I’m going to come by and see you later. We have to talk,” before suspicion was aroused and Kurt was left standing alone.

“What as that about?” Sebastian wanted to know.

Kurt promised, “I’ll tell you later.”

“Okay,” Sebastian said easily enough, and that seemed to be that.

“You have a really nasty habit of sneaking into my room,” Kurt told Cooper later that night.

Cooper grinned at him. “You leave your window open. That’s just asking for trouble. Or do you leave it open for your boyfriend?”

Kurt put his hands on his hips. “You wanted to talk to me about something?”

Suddenly all business, Cooper said, “I didn’t know it would be my brother and Berry, but I knew one of the circle would break the arrangement of no magic we had in place. I knew someone would instigate an attack by the hunters, and I lied when I said I didn’t know who they were. I knew they’d be the Red Guard.”

Kurt frowned. “Tell me what you know.”

“I knew,” Cooper continued, “that no matter who started practicing magic and got caught with it by the hunters, that they’d come after you. I just didn’t know for sure why until now.”

“Because I’m this lynchpin.”

Cooper held up a finger. “The reason for you being this so called lynchpin.”

“You know?”

“I know,” Cooper agreed. “Because I did that snooping we talked about. And I specifically went snooping about your mother. I don’t think you’re going to like what I found.”

Kurt felt his stomach drop. “What about my mother?”

Cooper said, “Elizabeth Jessica Mason. Mason blood. I was searching for Mason blood and coming up short, like someone buried all the information about that bloodline. Kind of like the Mason family never existed, and when it did, that it just sprung up out of nowhere.”

“I’m confused.”

“Your mother’s name,” Cooper clarified, “her maiden name of Mason, wasn’t originally the family’s name. Before they were Masons, they were the Murdock bloodline.”

“So my mother’s family changed their name?” Kurt wondered.

“To get away from the persecution associated with the Murdock name.” Cooper tucked his hands behind his back and paced the length of the room. “You’ve always been a Hummel, Kurt, and that’s a great honor. If things had been different, and we’d all grown up immersed in witch culture, you’d know the differences in the bloodlines. Some are older than others, and some are affiliated with certain things. The Hummels have always been known for their honesty, their righteousness and their loyalty. For hundreds of years. The Murdock line, not so much.”

Kurt guessed, “Not a good affiliation there?”

With a deep breath, Cooper said, “The Murdock bloodline is essentially credited with founding the necessity of the hunters. They were always knee deep in the dark arts. They used their magic for personal gain, and to hurt others, and no Murdock has ever kept a circle from imploding in deadly ways. In fact, I went back a couple hundred years and the Murdock family left nothing but trouble and death and destruction in their wake, up until about seventy years ago when they became Masons instead.”

The dark arts? Misuse of magic? “I thought magic couldn’t be dark or evil.”

“It can’t.” Cooper nodded. “But it can be twisted and tainted. Eventually, if you misuse the magic long enough, it’ll start to reek of that darkness. That’s what happened to the magic in your bloodline and it’s what got them massacred.”

Kurt reached out to steady himself on his desk chair. His dog’s head poked up curiously. “Did you say massacred?”

Cooper said, “I guess the hunters had had enough, after a couple of hundred years. And for several years they came together on a united front to wipe out every Murdock-Mason from existence. It’s how your mother almost died.”

“The fire.” That’s what his uncle had said. That her family had been wiped out in a horrible fire that had spared only his mother’s life. “That was hunters?”

“That was them.”

“Why didn’t they kill her too?” Kurt demanded. “They killed her sisters. And her parents.”

Cooper wasn’t sure, but said, “To the best of my knowledge, by the time the hunters had rooted your mother’s family out, she was already under the protection of your father. You have to understand, back then, Kurt, your father’s circle was immensely powerful. They could have handed the hunters their asses and then some. The hunters weren’t going to mess with her, not while your father was protecting her. They had to leave her alone, despite the threat of her blood. They weren’t ready to go to war then, and it’s what your father would have done to protect her.”

“So she had bad blood,” Kurt surmised. “Or more aptly, dark magic in her blood.”

“I think that the hunters left her alone not only because your father was protecting her, but also because he was a Hummel. Hummels are great equalizers, Kurt. The magic in their blood is as pure as it gets. Incredibly strong and pure. Maybe they thought that he’d be able to quiet the dark magic in her bloodline. But none of that mattered after she died. Or at least not until you came along.”

“Because I carry half her blood.”

Cooper gave him a dark look. “You carry her legacy. Kurt. As far as I’ve been able to research, the Murdock line has been completely wiped out. Everyone is gone. The adults and even the children. That bloodline is extinguished, save for you. And there’s no Burt Hummel protecting you now. They’re going to come for you because they see you as a Murdock and not a Hummel, and they are scared of you and the kind of power you have. You’re no ordinary witch, Kurt. You could shake the earth if you wanted to with your magic, and that makes you a threat in their eyes.”

He could use his magic without his other circle members. He could use it and there didn’t seem to be a cap on it. It was a terrible thing in his eyes and he told Cooper, “The other night, when those hunters attacked me I killed them. I used my own magic, my circle wasn’t anywhere near me, and it didn’t even think twice. I’m a murder, Cooper, and I didn’t mind it one bit.” He hid is face in his hands. 

Softly, Cooper said, “I told you about the bad seeping into the magic. It’s in your Murdock blood. That is a heavy influence. I’m not going to lie to you. When it comes down to it, your magic is always going to be fighting itself. You’re always going to have the urges to hurt people with your magic when they make you angry, and doing it will be easy. Your mother didn’t need a circle to use her magic and honestly, neither did your father. Some witches are truly exceptional, and you’re the son of two of them. That makes you extraordinarily exceptional. A child of two worlds, and a lynchpin.”

“I don’t want to hurt anyone. I’m not going to be evil.”

“And your mother wasn’t evil.”

Kurt didn’t really know anything about her. He knew she’d been beautiful, and he knew she’d been powerful. He knew his father had loved her, which mean she obviously had to have some amazing qualities, but other than that, she was such a stranger. 

“Was she really not?” Kurt asked. “Or are you just saying that to make me fee better?”

Cooper moved to his side and put a hand on his shoulder. “ I talked to an elder. The only one who’d meet with me. He knew your mother personally. He said she wasn’t evil. She embraced the dark magic in her blood, but she didn’t use it to hurt people. She was a good person, and so are you. Kurt, you’ve got a circle, and you have good magic from that circle, not to mention your own Hummel magic. You don’t even have to touch your Murdock side if you don’t want to.”

Kurt bit his lip. “Last night I wanted to. That magic, the Murdock bloodline magic that I think I tapped into, I wanted to use it. It was easier than any other magic I’ve ever used, and it felt better.”

Coopers head cocked. “The darker the magic, the more seductive it is. It’s going to be a test of willpower, Kurt, but you don’t have to give in. The option is entirely yours.”

“Is the circle going to be enough to stop the hunters?” Kurt asked. “We’re on their radar now. They’re coming for us. They’re coming for me. What do we do? With what I know now, what do I do?”

Cooper tapped him again on the shoulder. “Your father raised you a Hummel, Kurt. What’re your instincts telling you to do about the hunters?”

He didn’t need to think. “To keep them away from my circle. To protect my circle from them.”

“That,” Cooper said matter-of-factly, “is why you’re a Hummel. Selfless, loyal and righteous. You’re going to be fine, Kurt.”

But Kurt had a horrible thought, one that he never wanted to be true, but had to be said. He turned to Cooper and said, “My mother embraced her blood? She used her Murdock magic. I know she wasn’t evil, but she did, right? She had dark magic. And that accident happened. All those witches in my father’s circle died. Is it all tied together? That and this great betrayal with the hunters?”

Palms up, Cooper admitted, “I don’t know about that yet. I’m still looking for those answers. But for now some truth about your mom should be enough. Give me time on the other things.”

“But it’s possible?”

Cooper grimaced. “With magic, anything is possible.” Suddenly, and without warning his grip slid from Kurt’s shoulder and down to his arm where he gripped hard. “One last thing. You remember what I called the hunters who attacked you?”

“The Red Guard. I remember.”

“Do not,” Cooper said firmly, “underestimate them. You’re a very special witch, but they’re very special hunters. Within the hunting community there are different factions of hunters responsible for different tasks. The Red Guard are tasked with the destruction of magical threats. They’re the group of hunters who blotted your mother’s bloodline out. They’re specialized and you will not stand a chance against a group of them, no matter how powerful you think you are. You got lucky last night because they weren’t expecting you to have access to the magic you did, or for it to be as strong as it is. They won’t make the same mistake twice, and next time, they’ll send their heavy hitters after you.”

Kurt swallowed hard. “I understand.”

Cooper paused to ask, “Oh, did you get that box I sent you open yet?”

Kurt shook his head. “I got preoccupied. If it’s important you could just tell me.”

Cooper made a zipping motion across his lips.

Cooper left and Kurt sat gingerly on his bed, Knight jumping up onto his lap for a good petting.

Kurt told Knight, “I have to get those boxes open. His and Mrs. Smythe’s.”

No more secrets. He didn’t want any secrets anymore. He’d get the boxes open, he’d figure out if there was a connection between the accident and his mother’s dark magic, and he was going to deal with the hunters without tapping into any of his magic that wasn’t circle produced or Hummel by blood. He didn’t need any of that dark magic, and he wasn’t going to use it. No matter what.

He couldn’t hurt anyone else. It felt like a part of him depended on that.


	14. Chapter 14

With an arm stretched out on his side, Sebastian crooked a hand up so he could cradle his hand in his open palm, and reached out with the other to trace the milky white of Kurt’s skin where his pajama top had fallen off one shoulder.

It was barely a respectable time to wake up in the morning, and when Kurt cracked his eyes open to look over at Sebastian there was hardly any light in the room. He mumbled, trying to get his bearings, “Rated R hands.”

“Nah.” Sebastian leaned over to kiss Kurt’s shoulder. “I’m keeping it PG-13. It’s a hard PG-13, but I feel like your uncle is going to sense if I cross the line, and have a live grenade waiting for me when I drop you off. You weren’t even supposed to be here last night. I can’t believe he agreed to let you spend another night with me.”

“It’s early,” Kurt breathed out, still tired and achy from all of the things that had happened over the past few days, but feeling less burdened. “We should still be sleeping. And my uncle trusts you more than you think he does.”

Sebastian shifted down to press closer to Kurt, their body heat mixing with their magic. “I tried to go back to sleep. But I usually get up early anyway. I try to go down to the café before school every day, and before we open on the weekends. I trust the management, but I like to be sure.”

Kurt hooked long fingers around Sebastian’s bicep. “I much prefer to sleep in.”

“Duly noted,” Sebastian laughed.

It was a sensation Kurt had never experienced, simply lying in bed with another person with an air of comfort around them. It had never been him and someone he cared about, limbs all twisted together in the best way, blankets and bodies keeping them warm. But it was nice. It took some getting used to, not elbowing Sebastian in the ribs when he tried to turn over, but it was a good feeling. He wanted to do it more often.

“I feel lazy,” Kurt said.

“It’s a Sunday,” Sebastian defended. “Lazy day by definition.”

Kurt shrugged and let out a breath. “Just this once.”

Sebastian’s nose pressed into Kurt’s temple as they settled down completely. Kurt dozed back off as Sebastian’s fingers lightly traced across his exposed arm, and everything in the moment seemed perfect.

Sometime later, when the sun had come up a bit more, and when bathroom breaks were taken care of, Kurt pulled the heavy quilt on Sebastian’s bed up to his shoulders, and asked, “How different do you think everything would be if my dad and I hadn’t moved away when I was a baby?”

The question clearly caught Sebastian off guard, and he frowned. “I don’t know.”

“Because I was thinking about that.” Kurt rolled to his back, looking up at Sebastian’s plain white ceiling. “Do you think we would have bound the circle earlier? My father left me a letter he wrote. I found it in the books that were at the storage space. It was practically begging me not to bind the circle. Obviously he knew it would make us a target. But do you think he would have kept quiet about the magic from me if it meant a bound circle? Or do you think he would have been honest?”

“I think,” Sebastian said slowly, “that from everything you’ve told me, you were his number one priority. And as much as the magic scared him, or the magic involved in whatever happened to our parents on that boat, I think he would have told you. He would have done whatever it took to spare you from these asshole hunters guys.”

The answer was a godsend. Exactly what Kurt had wanted to hear.

“Sebastian?” Kurt’s fingers pressed gently against Sebastian’s neck. There was stubble, and the strong pulse of a heartbeat, and comfort in being able to just touch Sebastian.

“Hmm?”

“What about us?”

At that Sebastian turned to him. “What do you mean?”

“Well … do you think we’d have gotten together sooner if we’d grown up together? Or not at all?”

“Why so curious?” Sebastian wondered playfully. He caught Kurt’s wrist and said, “I don’t know about that one. Maybe … maybe if you’d been here from the beginning, I would have known how amazing you are right from the start, and I would have fought so hard to stay away from you. Or maybe I would have grown up feeling like you were more of a brother to me, than anything else.”

Kurt laughed. “I don’t think there would have ever been any danger of us feeling like brothers.”

“No,” Sebastian agreed, “but it’s different when you grow up with someone. I’ve known Blaine my entire life. It’s enough to make me never want to date him.”

“That’s a poor example.”

Sebastian sighed. “I just think, as nice as it would have been to have you with me from the start, it’s better that you weren’t. I don’t know what made your dad turn tail and run, but from what I understand, he was an insanely powerful witch. He wouldn’t have run from just anything, so if something scared him, I’m glad he took you and left. He kept you safe."

With a joking tone, Kurt said, “He could have told me, though. That there was someone perfect for me out there waiting.”

“I am kind of perfect, right?”

Peevishly, Kurt pinched him. “I said perfect for me, and not that you were perfect.” Kurt thought for a moment. “Do you think he didn’t say anything about you because he didn’t believe in the Hummel-Smythe clandestine destiny? Because he didn’t go for your mom, maybe he thought I wouldn’t go for you.”

“Nah.” Sebastian kissed him, mouth closed and quick enough that there’d be no protest. “I think he just wanted to give you what my mother didn’t give me.”

“What’s that?”

“Choice.”

There was so much to say to that in response, but there was heavy thudding outside of Sebastian’s door, and the sound of something breaking, and it had both boys out of bed in a second.

“What was that?” Kurt asked, racing from the room after Sebastian. Were hunters in the house? Were they attacking them before breakfast now?

“I don’t know.” Sebastian reached back for him and Kurt took the hand offered instinctively.

The noise, though Kurt didn’t think it was a relief that hunters were not involved, turned out to be Sebastian’s mother. She was lurching her way through the house, unstable on her feet, lost in the eyes, and knocking things over as she went.

Sebastian stopped Kurt at the foot of the stairs with a desperate look. It was enough and Kurt understood, prepared to wait.

“Mom?” Sebastian asked, catching her in the hallway. He put an arm around her and said, “Hold up. Just stand still for a minute. Let me check you out.”

Kurt could see glass on the floors. She’d knocked over a sculpture on her way through the house, and damaged the frame of a Van Gough replica on the wall.

“I’m fine,” she snapped, words slurring a little.

“You’re not,” Sebastian said patiently. “Now let me check you out. I heard something break. I want to make sure you’re okay.”

“Don’t touch me, Richard.”

That was … unexpected. Or maybe more that Sebastian didn’t seem to react to the words, like he’d heard them a million times before.

“I’m not dad, mom,” Sebastian said softly. “Can you tell me what you took today?”

It was so heartbreaking Kurt wanted to cry. Sebastian was sixteen. He was, for all intents and purposes, still a kid. He didn’t deserve to be taking care of his mom, and in that moment Kurt hated her for it. He hated her for making Sebastian into an adult before his time, and placing that kind of pressure on him.

They were talking in hushed voices that Kurt couldn’t hear, but apparently Sebastian had said something to calm her. She sagged lifelessly against him and it was then that Kurt spoke up, asking, “Do you need me to help you get her upstairs?”

Sebastian gave a muted nod as his mother burst out, “Kurt? Is that you?”

Kurt moved to their side. “It’s me, Mrs. Smythe.”

“Thank you. Thank you so much.” She let him help tug her up. “You’re such a good boy. A good Hummel.”

“Mom,” Sebastian said sharply.

She paid him no mind, saying deftly, “I knew you would come through for us, Kurt. You’d break the cycle.”

“We should get you to bed,” Kurt said.

She rambled on, “You did what your father was too weak to do.”

“Enough,” Sebastian barked out. “Mom. Stop it.”

“But he did,” she insisted. “And don’t you let anyone seduce him away from you. Don’t let it happen to you.”

Sebastian was angry, and he was going to snap at her again, but Kurt intercepted him, telling her definitively, “I very much doubt that’s going to happen, Mrs. Smythe. I don’t have anyone else on my radar. I’m not looking, and I’m not interested. You can calm down. I’m not going anywhere. No one is going to sway me from Sebastian.”

Obstinately, Sebastian looked away.

“Thank you,” she said again, finding her feet. “You’ll be so much stronger than we were. You’ll have a much better chance.”

“I’m sorry?” He didn’t follow.

“We didn’t know until the end. We didn’t know how much of difference it would have made. Burt and I.”

Kurt felt his throat close up. “What about my dad?”

“We would have had a chance,” she said sadly. “We would have.”

“Alright,” Sebastian thundered. “We’re done here.”

Kurt helped him get the woman up to her bedroom, and tucked into bed. Then they were out the door as quickly as possible, and Sebastian looked worn by the events.

“What was she talking about?” Kurt asked. “Something about my dad?”

“She’s high,” Sebastian said, pulling Kurt away from the bedroom door and towards the stairs. “Absolutely high as a kite. I could see it in her eyes. She wasn’t there, so just ignore everything she says. I do and it works out great.”

“Sebastian.” Kurt jerked him to a stop. “Are you okay?”

“Fine.”

“You’re not.”

“And why wouldn’t I be?” Sebastian asked him angrily.

Kurt reached up to tap him a little forcefully on the cheek. “Because your mother is falling to pieces in front of you, and has been for a while. I think you’re hurt and ashamed and worried and all the things that a good son would be. You just don’t know how to show it, or you don’t want to in front of me. In either case, you should know me well enough by now to know that I won’t ever judge you for something like that, and it doesn’t make you weak. It makes you and your family perfectly human. You like to forget that sometimes.”

For a long while Sebastian didn’t say anything, turn he turned, cupped the side of Kurt’s face and kissed his forehead. “Thank you.”

“You’re welcome.” Kurt returned the kiss. “Now, it’s Sunday morning and I say we get breakfast before I corral you into helping me with something.”

“Help with what?” Sebastian asked curiously as they headed back to his room.

“Something I got in the mail.”

Kurt had tired, for hours the day previous, to get the box open. He’d tried magic. He’d tried the sledgehammer in the garage, and he’d tried pleading with it. Nothing had opened the box. Nothing at all. But maybe two was better than one. There was a chance that the box needed circle magic, and there was no one Kurt trusted more in his circle than Sebastian.

“Okay,” Sebastian said easily enough. “We should go to the café and get coffee and something to eat. We’ll go by your house after.” That meant Kurt was going to be stuck wearing his clothes from the day before, at least for a little while, but it seemed a small price to pay for good company. 

Like it always was, the café was packed on Sunday morning. Mercedes was at the cash register when they came in and she waved brightly to Kurt when they came in. There was a table in the corner, by one of the big windows that had just been cleared and she made sure it was theirs for the taking.

Over coffee and croissants, Kurt asked, “Remember when I told you what Cooper said? About my mother’s bloodline? About the magic?”

Sebastian nodded as he sipped his coffee. “There’s domestic abuse when I don’t listen to you.”

Kurt gave him a reserved look. “Do you think what he said was true?”

“I don’t think he’d say it if it wasn’t.”

“Then what does that mean for me?” Kurt felt frustrated. “That I’ve got a fifty-fifty chance of going dark? Of giving into the temptation?” His voice lowered. “I know that my mother was not evil. I know that having dark magic doesn’t make you evil. But I do know it makes it easier to lose control, and to hurt people, and I never want that to happen. Cooper really scared me. I don’t want that. You know I don’t.”

“Of course not.” Sebastian shrugged.

“It’s why I bound the circle so quickly.”

“Kurt.”

Kurt reached across the table for Sebastian’s hand. “Why aren’t you as worried about this as me?”

Sebastian broke off a piece of his croissant. “Because I know you.” He popped the bread in his mouth and chewed thoroughly. “I know your heart.”

“Be careful, you’re starting to sound romantic.”

Sebastian rolled his eyes. “I just mean, I know how good of a person you are. You might have the temptation. It might always be there. And it’s a part of you so I have to accept it along with that annoying habit you have of pulling and pulling some more on your pants like they’re too tight and you don’t want to show off that amazing ass you have.”

“Charming.”

Sebastian squeezed his hand. “All I mean is, dark magic or not, I trust you with my life, and the circle trusts you with everything. I know you are more than strong enough to fight the temptation, and you’ve got a better cap on your emotions than any of it. It comes down to control, and you have it. But if you ever think you can’t handle it, or you feel weak, or anything, I’m going to be there for you. We’re in this together. So I’m not worried.”

“I take it back,” Kurt said, eyes watering a bit. “You are kind of perfect.”

“I’m going to hold you to that,” Sebastian promised. 

They went back to Kurt’s house after that. His uncle was up at the hospital for the day which was a relief, and Kurt wasted no time by sitting Sebastian on his bed and saying, “I got this in the mail.” He wandered to his closet where the box was waiting for him. “I didn’t know at the time, but I do know now. Cooper sent it. And every time I’ve talked to him, he’s been pushing me towards getting it open.” Kurt handed the box over. “It’s important, apparently.”

“It’s … a big box.”

“Very astute.”

Sebastian turned the box over. “There’s no lock, but there’s definitely something in here.”

Kurt sat next to him on the bed. “Cooper has been dropping hints about it forever. I’m pretty sure it’ll take magic to open it, but I can’t get it open on my own. For all of this magic that’s supposedly in me, the kind that isn’t bound by a circle, I can’t do it. But maybe we can do it together. With the circle’s magic.”

Sebastian’s hand came out. “Worth a shot.”

“Lock unlock?” Kurt asked. It was the most simple spell he’d ever tried, and probably the first that he’d learned. Blaine had taught him that day in the school hallway. It was the first spell he’d done with his circle, before they’d even been a circle. 

Nothing. There was no click from an invisible lock. And nothing happened.

“How about something more complex?” Sebastian asked. “If what’s in here is important, then it’s probably got above average protection on it. And you said you tried a sledgehammer on this thing?”

“I took it out back,” Kurt confirmed. “It should have split right open. At the least there should be marks to show for the effort. But nothing. You can’t even tell I went at it for twenty minutes. I think my uncle thinks I’m crazy now.”

With pursed lips, Sebastian turned the box over again, then said, “How about we try this: An object without lock or key, um … the contents which we kind of deserve to see?”

Kurt almost burst out laughing. “That’s your best? I think we’re going to revoke your witch membership card.”

Sebastian thrust the box out at Kurt. “This isn’t Charmed, okay? I’m not good with rhymes.”

“It doesn’t have to rhyme,” Kurt told him. “You know that. It just has to be heartfelt. We have to mean it.”

Kurt’s fingers still in hand, Sebastian gave him a firm nod. “How about you give it a shot?”

Kurt looked down at the box, and thought about how much he wanted to know what was inside. Cooper had refused to tell him what it was, but he knew for a fact that it was important, and that he needed to get to it.

“A gift from one who is an ally, with unseen lock now unarmed for circle aid.”

The box remained still and sealed. Kurt felt crestfallen.

“Well, that didn’t work either,” Sebastian said.

Something heavy sounded in Kurt’s closet.

“What as that?” Kurt slid off his bed and dashed to the closet. “Sebastian. You’re never going to believe this.”

“What?” Sebastian strained for a better look, then said, “You never told me you had two of these things.”

Kurt held the second box in his hands. “I was so focused on Cooper’s box, I forgot about this one.” He hesitated, then said, “Your mother gave me this one.”

“My mom?” Sebastian’s eyes widened.

“And,” Kurt told him, “she didn’t want me to tell you that she did. At least not right away. She wasn’t really clear. I just know that she gave it to me for safe keeping, and asked me not to say anything to you. But I think I have to now.”

“Because we’re dating?”

Kurt shook his head. “Because while trying to open Cooper’s box, you and I just opened this one instead.” Kurt turned the box around and Sebastian could see that the seal on the box was broken and it had cracked open just a little. Kurt handed the box over to Sebastian and said, “I think this is yours. I was just holding onto it for you.”

Sebastian wasted no time opening the box, and as magic blanketed the room, spreading out like the tide, Sebastian’s fingers curled around a beaten down and worn looking book.

Sebastian breathed out, “My mom can’t even get herself to bed, but she’s got mind enough to take our family’s Book of Shadows, put it in a magically protected box and ship it off to you?”

“Actually, she handed it to me. No post required.”

Sebastian shook his head in disbelief. “Why would she give it to you? And not me?”

Kurt pushed the book in Sebastian’s hands to the taller teen’s chest. “I told you, I was just holding onto it. Maybe she didn’t think it was safe to keep it at the time. It doesn’t matter. What does is that it’s yours. It’s your family’s legacy. And it must be important. I mean, your mother thought being a Smythe was so important that not only did she keep her maiden name, but she made sure you had it, too. This is your book, Sebastian. Yours, and you decide not only what you want to do with it, but also who knows about it.”

Kurt wouldn’t have blamed him if he didn’t want anyone to know. Kurt himself had hidden his own book for a while.

“No,” Sebastian decided. “Not with the threat to the circle right now. I can’t hold back. I want to, but I can’t. I’ll take this to the next meeting we have.”

Kurt nodded. “But what about the other box?” He nodded to the locked box that still rested on the bed. “That’s the one Cooper wanted me to open. 

Sebastian ran his hands reverently over the cover of his book and offered, “Get Blaine.”

“Why Blaine?”

Sebastian gestured to his book. “You couldn’t get either box open on your own, right? Well, you needed me to open mine. Maybe you need Blaine to open his.”

“Maybe,” Kurt mused. The idea wasn’t without merit. “But Cooper said he wanted me to open it without Blaine’s help. Without involving the Circle.” 

“Or maybe,” Sebastian supposed, “he wanted to see if you’d put Blaine and the Circle above him. Maybe it’s a test.”

Kurt hummed thoughtfully. 

For the rest of the morning Kurt and Sebastian lounged around. They watched a little TV, played with a much neglected Knight, and simply enjoyed each other’s company. After lunch Sebastian left for home, book tucked under his arm, and Kurt readied for his shift down at the café. He knew Sebastian would start later than him, he had the closing shift, but Kurt’s own was coming up fast.

When he got to the café, just over an hour later, Mercedes was gone, but Mike was still there, working the coffee machine. Kurt hurried to greet him, also waving to Jesse who was barricaded in the corner with a mountain of books and a stressed look in his face. Kurt sympathized with him. He knew Jesse was taking all honors classes, and was on the academic decathlon team. That was a lot of pressure.

Work was always a great distraction for Kurt, and before he knew it half his shift was over. The crowd was beginning to thin and Kurt took the opportunity to deliver drinks to tables, and to get away from standing in one spot at the cash register. He always got fidgety when he had to do that for too long.

“Double espresso,” Kurt announced, setting a drink down on Jesse’s table. “Because apparently you want to have a heart attack at seventeen.”

“No,” Jesse corrected with a smile, “I want to maintain my perfect GPA so my mother doesn’t smother me in my sleep.”

“Horrible,” Kurt remarked.

Jesse took a drink and grinned at Kurt. “I feel like I haven’t seen you in forever. How have you been?”

“Well …” He couldn’t exactly tell Jesse about his magic, or about the hunters, or about any of the things that were going on, really. The most he could say, was, “For the moment, I’m doing okay.” Because he was, and that wasn’t a lie.

“I’d say you’re doing better than that.” Jesse nodded towards the window that faced the parking lot. Sebastian was just pulling up for his shift, and there was a happy look on his face. “You know, you’re practically a legend for it, Kurt.”

“For what?”

“For taming that.”

“It wasn’t like he was a wild child,” Kurt burst out, feeling anxious and protective. “He just needed someone who was willing to take the time to understand him. I was. Simple as that.”

Jesse shrugged. “It’s amazing, that’s all. And good. You’re good for each other. That much is plain to see. Not many couples can claim they truly bring out the best in each other, but I think you guys can.”

Kurt hugged the tray he was carrying closer to his chest, carefully balancing the one drink left on there. He hoped Jesse’s words were true.

“Don’t lie to him.”

Kurt startled. “Excuse me?”

The piercing gaze from Jesse was unnerving. “Protect your relationship at all costs. Don’t lie to him, Kurt. Don’t betray him. Don’t forsake him. You don’t know how important he is.”

With an uneasy, forced laugh, Kurt said, “Thanks for the relationship advice.”

“I mean it. You need him, Kurt.”

“I’ve got it.” Kurt took a step back. “Now, I’ve got to get this other coffee out before it turns cold.”

Sebastian was just coming through the door as Kurt approached table thirteen, and smiled down at the middle aged, but still very beautiful woman waiting for her drink. He was struck by the way her midnight black hair tumbled off her shoulders like silk, and the clarity of her bright green eyes. And there was something familiar about the way she felt. A rumbling in his chest told him she was a witch, but not what else.

“Thank you, Kurt.”

“You know my name?” Kurt asked. His fingers shook as he placed the coffee down. “I’m sorry, have we met before?” He was beginning to severely dislike the way she looked at him, as if she saw right through him.

“Aside from the nametag you’re wearing?”

“Of course.” Kurt forced himself to relax. How stupid. “Yes. That’s … well, that’s my name. Sorry. I’m a little jumpy right now.”

She curled long, delicate fingers around her cup and said, “That’s alright, dear. I’d be jumpy too if hunters were after me.”

Kurt lost his grip on the serving tray and it clattered to the ground, causing people to look towards him. Sebastian’s head poked out of the back room and he mouthed at Kurt after he took in the situation, asking if he was okay. Kurt gave Sebastian a shakily nod, and told the woman, “I’m sorry for that. I think I heard you wrong.”

“If what happened on Friday night is any indication, I doubt so.”

For the first time, Kurt said it aloud. “You’re a witch.”

“And you’re Kurt Hummel. Burt and Elizabeth’s son. I haven’t seen you in fifteen years.”

Kurt braced himself against the table. “You saw me?”

She looked pensive, then said, “The last time I saw you, you were crawling around my parent’s living room like a madman. You were ten months but you were already pulling yourself up, like you wanted to walk but just hadn’t figured out how. I had you for the night, while your parents went out.”

This woman had watched over him as a child. She’d taken care of him, and obviously known his parents. She was a piece of his past, even if he couldn’t remember it.

“While they went out?”

“On a date,” the woman said simply enough. “They had you young. Only a little out of high school. They still liked to go out, and you always needed a good distraction to let that happen. There was a certain Terrier puppy that I had and you really adored. You used to wrestle with until you tired yourself out. Elizabeth took about a million pictures, I think. She was quite the photographer.”

He didn’t really have any pictures of himself as a child, Kurt realized. His father’s paranoia was probably to blame, but other than the official, school photos that were unavoidable, there really weren’t any pictures.

“You knew her well?” Kurt asked. “And I never got your name. That’s rude of me.”

Her head dipped towards him. “I’m Julie Donaldson. Your mother was two years ahead of me in school, but she always treated me like an equal. I sat with her at lunch, the only sophomore in a sea of seniors, and I guess you could say she took me under her wing. I told her all my secrets, and she told me a fair bit of hers. We were close, like sisters, even. I took her death very hard.”

Carefully, Kurt said, “The drowning.”

The woman’s mouth pulled tight. “The accident.”

He had to get back to the rest of his orders, but he couldn’t make himself move. She, more than anyone else, seemed to be willing and open to talking about his mother. Most people couldn’t wait to talk about his father, but they always shied away from his mother. This Julie seemed to be different. 

“Then,” he told her, “I’m sorry for your loss.”

“She was your mother,” Julie said, surprised.

Kurt shrugged. “But I barely knew her. I was only a year old when she died. I don’t even have any memories of her. Up until I moved here, she could have been standing right next to me and I never would have known it was her, or what she looked like. She might have been my mother, but she was your friend, and a dear one at that. So I’m sorry for your loss.”

Julie said, almost regrettably, “I could never let her go. Not even after everything that happened.”

Kurt’s eyes drifted away from her for a second, to Mercedes who was starting to look annoyed, and to Jesse who was watching him fiercely, some kind of impossible expression his face. 

“I have some of her things, if you’re interested.”

Kurt turned back to her sharply, asking, “Some of her things?”

“Things that you pick up being friends with someone for a couple of years. Pictures. Knickknacks. That sort. I need to let go of the past, and if you’re interested, you can have it the things I’ve saved of hers.”

The chance to own some of his mother’s things made his chest burst with excitement. He could barely contain himself, actually. “That would be amazing.”

She had a pad of paper and a pen in her leather satchel, and she scribbled down her address in a neat script before handing it over to him. “Come by after you get off work.”

Kurt took the paper. “That isn’t going to be for a couple more hours.”

“I hope I don’t seem the type to turn in for the night at ten.”

Kurt shook his head. “No. Sorry.”

“I’ll get the box out of the attic for you,” she said. “And then maybe we can both find peace.”

Kurt returned to work feeling overjoyed.

“I’m heading out now,” Jesse announced to Kurt a couple of hours later, pulling his bag over his head. “It’s getting late. And I need to catch a few hours of sleep before my brain completely slides out of my ears.”

Kurt grinned at him. “I don’t know how you do it. Really.”

“Practice,” Jesse promised. “But hey, you said you were looking to take honor’s English for your junior year, right?”

Kurt nodded as he wiped down a table. “The school councilor is suggesting as many honors classes sophomore and junior year as I can handle, for when I apply to college. Those years are the part of my transcript that are going to matter most for the application process.”

“Then you’ll get stuck with Mrs. Harville. She’s a tough cookie, Kurt. And she does a whole half semester on Shakespeare.”

Kurt visibly gulped. “I was never very good with Shakespeare.”

Jesse reached out to pat him on the shoulder. “Then you can start thanking me now. I have all of my notes from last year when I took her class, and she never changes her lecture format. You’ll breeze by the class if you want to borrow them.”

Kurt’s eyes lit. “That would be amazing. You’re a lifesaver.”

“So come by after you get off.”

“Oh.” Kurt’s shoulders fell. “I can’t. Not today.”

“I’d like to give them to you before I forget. And it’s not like we see each other all that often,” Jesse said.

With a frown, Kurt pointed out, “The class isn’t until September. I think I’m okay not having them right now. And I really do have to be somewhere else after work. I committed.” The piece of folded paper in his pocket felt like it weighted a ton.

Slowly, Jesse nodded. “Some other time, then.”

Jesse all but blew out of the café and Kurt couldn’t help feeling like he’d done something wrong. It felt like that for the rest of his shift.

“How’s it going in here?” Kurt asked, poking his head into the main office when he was done for the day and his apron was hanging up on the back. He could see Sebastian in the corner, going over sales and receipts. “You look like the paper is eating you alive.”

“It might be,” Sebastian said with a grimace. “I like to get in here and double check the books at least once a week. Like I said, I trust management, but you can never be too sure, and my mom can barely count to ten.”

Gently, Kurt reminded, “You’re not an accountant.”

“I certainly don’t get paid like one.”

Kurt drifted to the desk where he leaned over and shared a kiss with Sebastian. “Don’t let the paper eat you. I think I want to keep you.”

“You think?”

Kurt pressed another kiss to his mouth. “Okay. I’m sure I want to keep you. So don’t let it happen. I’m going home now.”

Sebastian cleared his throat. “We’re going to close in a couple more hours. If you wanted, you could hang around. Not work, of course, but hang around and keep me company. And then we could run everyone out and then it would be just me and you.”

“Tempting,” Kurt told him truthfully, “but I can’t stay.” He felt oddly popular, but also like it wasn’t the best thing ever.

Thankfully, Sebastian didn’t look too heartbroken. Instead he only shrugged and said, “I’ll see you tomorrow then. At school and then after?”

“Promise.” Kurt said. Then he pulled the paper from his pocket, and entered the address into his phone’s GPS as he walked to his truck.

Julie lived in an old house outside of town. It was a Victorian looking townhouse, three stories and kind of ominous looking. But there were plenty of lights on in the house and that was a good sign.

The door opened almost immediately after he rang the bell, and Julie was there looking beautiful and gothic and inviting. “Come in,” she said right away, nearly pulling him through the door.

“I can’t stay long,” Kurt told her. “My uncle has been getting a little protective lately. And considering he let me stay out the past couple nights with my boyfriend, I really have to be home in about an hour. I don’t mean to rush you.”

That didn’t seem to put her off. She guided him into the kitchen where she had a pitcher of juice out and a couple of glasses. She sat him down on the stool at the island bar and said, “You wait here, have something to drink, and I’m going to go grab the box. I dug it out of the attic earlier, but it’s in an upstairs bedroom. You’ll be out of here in ten minutes.”

“Thank you.” Kurt reached for the pitcher.

He could hear her heeled shoes on the wood stairs as she climbed to the next level, and he took a long drink of the sweet, peachy tasting juice. He’d demolished half a glass before he heard her shoes again.

“It’s all here.” She hefted the box up on the bar and popped the lid off.

Kurt got to his feet a little woozy. “The … the pictures? You said pictures?”

She reached in the box for a silver picture frame of his mother. “I loved her, Kurt. No matter what happens, that is the truth.”

He staggered to the side, barely catching himself on the countertop. “Sorry,” he apologized. “I’m not feeling well.”

“It’s the only way,” she said sadly. She braced him at the elbow. “You have to die.”

His vision hazy, he knew he’d misheard her. “I what?”

As his legs failed him she lowered him gently to the floor, stroking back his bangs. “I loved Elizabeth, Kurt, despite what she was. But she led us astray, like you will do, and that can’t be allowed to happen. You have to die, just like her. And for that I’m sorry.”

His eyes were impossibly heavy, and despite his panic, he fell asleep. 

He was heavy. That was what he knew the next time he woke. He was heavy and he couldn’t move, couldn’t think, and with that knowledge, he went back to sleep.

Waking up after that, in comparison, was much easier. He wasn’t so heavy anymore, but he still couldn’t move. And it wasn’t until his eyes adjusted to the darkness of the exposed night around him that he realized he was lying on a cold, hard surface.

“Don’t try to move.” Julie came into view, now in a long robe and pulled back hair. She shushed him and pushed at his bangs again, saying, “You’ve been marked.” She lifted one of his hands and with the moonlight he could see an odd symbol had been painted from the back of his hand. And there were more, folded to the inside of his wrist and up the soft side of his forearm. “They’re runes, and they’ll keep you from going anywhere. If you try to, they will hurt you.”

“Why?” Kurt ground out, his senses coming back to him. “Why’re you doing this?”

There were more people. Half a dozen of them surrounding the tablet of some kind that he laid upon, and he knew their red armbands right away for what they meant.

“Kurt--”

“They’re hunters!” Kurt hissed at her. “They’re the Red Guard. They … they killed my mother’s family. They burned her house to the ground and killed her parents and her little sisters and everyone else in her bloodline. You’re a witch. Why are you helping them?”

Her fingers stilled in his hair. “You know what you are, Kurt. You know what’s in you. I’ve seen Cooper Anderson slinking his way through this town. I know he’s found out the truth, and he’s told you. You understand then, even if you don’t want to.”

“I understand,” Kurt spat at her, “that you’re working with people who killed children, just because of who their parents were.”

“They wouldn’t have been children forever.”

Kurt closed his eyes, feeling nauseous. “You’re a traitor witch.”

She said, “I’m what’s necessary to ensure our survival. Our breed’s survival. You’re the last, Kurt. And after you we’re finally going to be free from persecution for something that isn’t our fault.”

He just turn his head enough to see the dagger that was further down, decorated intricately at the handle and curved at the end. It was no giant leap in logic to assume that she planned to kill him. Probably in some kind of ritual. The pieces were really starting to come together. But he still had questions. The desperate kind.

“What are you talking about?” he demanded, a burst of pain going through his head as he tried to move his toes enough to get his feet under him.

“Dark magic,” she spat. “Your mother embraced it. She told us it wasn’t evil. She said she could control it, and that she’d lead us to victory. She said it wouldn’t fail us, and she would never betray us. She made promises, Kurt, tried to the magic in her blood, and we believed her. We were stupid and believed her, because she was Elizabeth and everyone loved Elizabeth.”

Kurt guessed, “Didn’t work out?”

“Dark magic is dark. It’s evil no matter what. And it gives the hunters the right to kill us where we stand. When you die, Kurt, they’ll leave us alone.”

Kurt couldn’t help the laughter that bubbled up. “They won’t leave you alone. They’re completely crazy from what I hear now. The lot of them.”

One of the witch hunters, a long scar running from his right eye to his jaw, strode forward. “You killed six of my men.”

Six? Kurt hadn’t known that. But he found himself defending, “They attacked me. I was defending myself.”

Julie rose from Kurt’s side. “You’re evil, Kurt. I’m sorry, but you are. It’s the blood that pulses through your veins. Your mother was evil, too, but none of us saw it until half the circle was floating in the water face down. But we can purge the evil. We can save so many witches, and all we have to do is kill you.”

Kurt’s fingers curled into fists. “I’m not evil.”

“You can’t help it.”

“I had a sister,” Julie said. “Your mother led her to death when she unleashed--”

“Enough,” the hunter snapped. “Time grows short.”

There was anger under his skin. It was boiling up and Kurt couldn’t stop it. Not as Julie began to draw more runes onto the exposed skin of his arms, up to the crook of his elbow. And in his panic all he could think was that she was a witch, and more than that an adult. She was supposed to keep the natural balance, and not harm those who were both of her kind and not. That was her responsibility. What she was doing went against everything that made her a witch. She was betraying them all. She had to be stopped.

And the hunters. The Red Guard, who killed children because of the magic in their blood. Who slaughtered who families without thought or remorse. They didn’t deserve to live. They deserved to die. To burn, like everyone else.

Julie was mumbling then, and a half second later flames sprung up around the length of the stone slab he was laying on. The heat was horrible and intense and it hadn’t even reached him yet.

“You don’t need to do this,” Kurt pled with her. “I’m not your enemy. I’m a witch just like you. We should be allies.”

“Ally with a Murdock?” Julie asked. 

“I’m not a Murdock, I’m a Hummel.”

She said flatly, “You’re a monster. You just don’t know it yet.”

She and the other hunters, they would have murdered him as a baby. He knew that. She would have, if given the chance, swept into his nursery and smothered him with his own pillow. On any of the occasions when his mother had left him as a baby with Julie, she could have killed him, or maybe planned to all along. If the accident had happened sooner, or he’d been left with her after, she would have. He saw in her eyes that she truly believed in what she said. She believed all witches who shared Murdock blood were evil. She would have killed him as a baby. Because babies grew up. She’s said so herself.

And if he had a son, a tiny, precious infant, or a daughter, she’d kill that baby too, just to prevent the blood from spreading. To protect her own ass from the witch hunters who sought nothing but extinction of the witches. She’d kill his baby.

His magic exploded out of him.

There was screaming. So much screaming, and the flames licked his body so suddenly that he realized, as he smelled burning flesh, that it was him. He was the one shouting, cursing, swearing to rip enemy from limb to limb. He was the one fighting through the pain to scratch up the skin on his arm, destroying the runes binding him to the tablet he was laying on.

His feet hit the soil soundlessly as the flames extinguished. His knees unlocked and he toppled down, blood streaming down his arms, tired, breathless and still so angry.

“Monster!” Julie screamed, suddenly soaring backwards and upwards. 

She was impaled. There was a thick tree branch protruding from her stomach, but still she was screaming at him, declaring him not worth the air he breathed in.

The slick sound of someone passing through the shrubbery caught Kurt’s attention and he looked up to see the hunter, the only one that had spoken, standing above him, knife in hand.

“Blood,” Kurt breathed out, gasping for air, “doesn’t make us evil. No matter what kind. And magic … it isn’t evil either. I’m not evil. I’m not.”

The hunter knelt, catching Kurt’s chin. “You are--”

The man gasped, the sudden blood that coated one side of his face almost masking the expression of surprise on his face.

He was blown away with such force, turning feet over head as he flew through the air, that Kurt’s teeth rattled. His circle’s magic had the air around them charged instantly from the staccato burst of power.

Then he heard them. He heard the desperation in Sebastian’s voice and the frantic worry in Quinn’s. It was his circle. Or at least some of them. They were coming for him. They’d found him.

“Kurt!”

His arms were numb. He couldn’t even wrap them around Sebastian when the teen fell to his knees next to Kurt and hugged him tightly, mumbling into his shoulder, “I didn’t think we’d get here in time. I was so scared something was going to happen to you. I’m sorry I didn’t realize you were in trouble until it was too late.”

Kurt sagged against him, boneless and feeling unworthy of the comfort being offered.

“Sebastian?” Quinn said, voice shaking with fear. “Sebastian!”

“What?” was the short answer. Sebastian’s arms held him tightly and he kissed the side of Kurt’s head. “I’m busy.”

Was it raining. He could hear the sound of rain, but he couldn’t feel anything on his skin. 

“Sebastian,” Quinn whispered frantic.

Kurt turned to look at her as Sebastian did, and she was looking up, head tipped back and mouth open in horror.

The hunters, almost all of them except for the one that Quinn and Sebastian had taken care of, were up in the trees. They were strewn about in pieces, and it was raining, but not water. Kurt could see dots of red on Quinn’s hand when she held it out. 

Kurt lunged to the side to vomit.

He wasn’t the only one.

“You had to,” Sebastian said fiercely as he tried to shield Kurt from the sight of the severed limbs. “They’re hunters, right? They were going to kill you. You had to do whatever you did, Kurt. It’s okay.”

“It’s not,” Kurt wailed. He was a monster. And there was evil in him. He’d felt it. There was no mistaking the darkness that had completely consumed him and controlled his actions. He’d killed a dozen people in only a few days and both Julie and the guard had been right. He was a monster.

“Kurt,” Quinn said, voice airy. “What happened here? How did you do this?”

He had questions of his own. He wanted to know how they’d found him, and how they’d known to come for him quick enough that they’d arrived for the very end of it. And he had questions for people that didn’t live anymore. Questions about what it meant to be a Murdock, and just what kind of horrible things was he capable of. He’d seen some of the dark magic in him already, but it didn’t look to be the worst of it. There was something else, other than being able to kill indiscriminately. He could feel it in his bones. He could do much worse, and maybe, just maybe, the hunters had been justified in trying to kill him.

“Kurt?” Sebastian rubbed his back.

Kurt wiped his mouth with the back of his hand, buried his face into Sebastian’s shoulder and cried.


	15. Chapter 15

Her voice barely above a whisper, Quinn said, “We’re going to have to talk about it sometime.”

Sebastian made a grunting noise. “You know this isn’t the time or place.”

“Then when?” she questioned. “Blaine and Rachel are going out of town with their government class tomorrow. They’ll be gone for three days, and as it stands, they don’t even really know what just happened. If we don’t talk about it now, they’ll be gone tomorrow morning, and it’ll be a while before we can.”

Again, Sebastian said, “We’re not doing this right now. He’s … he’s breaking, Quinn. Right in front of me he’s falling apart, and he’s been through something tonight that none of us thought was possible. We’re not going to push him. We’re not going to make him talk and frankly, getting Anderson and Berry out of here is a good thing.”

Muted, Quinn asked, “You blame them?”

Sebastian was quick and angry to reply, “Of course I blame them!” His voice rose, but he caught himself and lowered it. “We said no magic. We agreed, as a circle, to keep everyone safe, that we weren’t going to do any magic until we figured things out. They broke that agreement. They provoked the hunters, and pushed them into attacking Kurt that night of the concert, and again just now. I get that there are a lot of other things that contributed to this mess, but above all else, I blame them.”

“You shouldn’t. They didn’t mean it. We all make mistakes.”

“Look at him,” Sebastian hissed. “Did you see what they did to him? The way they burned him? And how he had to hurt himself to break those runes? When we pulled him out of that forest he was barely aware of what was going on. I love him, Quinn. I love him and I don’t care if I shouldn’t blame them. They got him hurt, and they should be lucky I don’t hate them.”

As Quinn and Sebastian talked quietly, across the room, Kurt laid silently and motionless in his bed, pretending to be asleep, but afraid of the dreams that would come. 

“He’s going to be okay,” Quinn said.

“He’s got second degree burns,” Sebastian argued. “On his legs. And the skin on his arms from where he had to scratch himself… I know he’s going to be okay. Eventually. But not right now. You know as well as I do that his uncle didn’t buy that bullshit about us being in a car accident. And he’s going to get nosy, too. He’ll be looking out for my car, and asking Henderson down at the body shop. He didn’t believe a word that came out of my mouth when we called him from the hospital. Maybe he thinks I hurt Kurt. I don’t know.”

The sound of Quinn cuffing him over the back of the head reached Kurt’s ears, as did her words when she said, “You know he doesn’t think that. He may not buy the accident story, but he knows you’d never hurt Kurt. You’re not capable of it. Not really. And he did let us come home with Kurt, and we’re up here now, when he isn’t.”

Sebastian’s feet shuffled across the carpet and Kurt felt the bed dip. He kept still as Sebastian ran a feather light touch across his brow. “He only let us be here because Kurt was hysterical in the hospital. He was confused and scared and we calmed him down.”

“You did.”

Sebastian shuddered. “I can’t see him like this. This is not the Kurt Hummel I know.”

Quinn gave pause, then asked, “Do you think this is part of the reason his dad took him away as a baby? Because of his mother’s side of the family? Because he knew that there would be people out there who’d want to hurt Kurt just because of who’s blood he has in his veins?”

“I guess,” Sebastian sighed out. “I mean, if I had a kid, I’d do whatever it took to keep them safe. I wish his dad was still here. I know Kurt wishes that all the time, but this is the first time I’ve wished it, too. If his dad was here, he’d know what to do. He’d be able to keep Kurt safe. I can’t do it, obviously.”

“Hey.” Quinn joined him on the bed. “You’ve done your best, and it’s been pretty damn good. You saved Kurt from drowning that first day.”

“Because Rachel and Blaine were idiots and wanted to force his magic. To make sure he was the real deal.”

“You still went right in after him.” Quinn ticked off, “Then you were there, leading the charge when Fischer showed up, and then with the concert, and again tonight. You’re there, Sebastian. You’re always there. Your timing might not be the best, but you can always be counted on to show up, and to save him.”

“Kurt’s not the kind of guy who needs saving. He’s not a damsel in distress.”

“No,” Quinn agreed, “but once in a while, everyone needs a little help. It’s not a sign of weakness, either. Especially when you’re up against something like what we are. There are people out there who want to kill him. That’s no joke. They will kill him because of his bloodline. And there are others who’d use him and hurt him and they’re no better. I know he worries about keeping the circle safe, but from now on, the circle is going to keep him safe. Whether he likes it or not.”

Sebastian’s fingers stilled on Kurt’s forehead. Kurt wanted to lean into the touch. Moment earlier Sebastian had said he loved Kurt. He’d never said that to Kurt directly. Kurt wanted him to. He’d never been loved by someone who wasn’t his family, and Sebastian’s love seemed the best of all. 

“Quinn,” Sebastian said in desperation, “if Kurt dies, or any of us for that matter, the circle breaks. Do you know what happens when a circle breaks?”

“No.”

“It’s in my book,” Sebastian supplied. “I’ve been trying to read through it as fast as possible. But when a circle breaks, if there isn’t another member of the same bloodline to fill the spot, the magic contained and controlled in the circle, it goes wild. If they had killed Kurt tonight, the rest of us could have leveled this town without even meaning to.”

Delicate lips pressed to Kurt’s cheek. Quinn. “We won’t let that happen.”

Grumbling, Sebastian said, “I let him walk away from me tonight. He was heading off with a dangerous witch and I didn’t even know. Jesse St. James had to tell me as much.”

Jesse. So that was how Sebastian had known. Kurt had wondered, and Jesse had seemed apprehensive about Kurt not coming over to his house after work. The whole thing had smelled a little fishy.

“What?” Quinn asked.

Sebastian blew out a long breath. “Not that he was going off with some witch who planned to burn him alive, obviously. But he did say that he saw Kurt talking to that woman. Jesse said Kurt had agreed to meet her after work, and that Jesse thought she was trouble.”

“Then,” Quinn guessed, “we felt through the circle that Kurt was in trouble. An easy deduction.”

“Easy? We got lucky, Quinn, that Jesse knew where this woman lived, and that he had sense enough to tell me before I picked you up on the way. And can we talk about how it was a one in a million shot of finding Kurt through those woods?”

“We always have a good sense of direction when it comes to the members of our circle, Sebastian. Especially Kurt. We’re much more in tune with him than the others.”

Kurt relaxed completely as Sebastian climbed up fully on the bed and spooned behind him. “He saved himself tonight, Quinn. We were just the cleanup crew, and it shouldn’t have been like that. We should have been there from the start, to stand with him, and help him. He was alone with people who were trying to kill him, and I will never forgive myself for that.” Sebastian’s hand curled up on his hip and Kurt found himself falling back against him.

Shakily, Quinn said, “They were in pieces, Sebastian. Half a dozen of them. In pieces, in the trees. I didn’t know that was possible. And that witch … what happened to her. She was still alive when we left to get Kurt to the hospital. She was bleeding out, but the placement of the branch was so perfect, it must have been a horrifically slow death. He did that, Sebastian. He did that without the circle and just with his magic.”

She was scared. Oh god, she was scared of him. Kurt knew it. Of course she was. Why wouldn’t she be? He was a monster who had actually killed people, and with some kind of magic that he couldn’t control. He deserved to have the people that he cared the most for, be scared of him.

“He’s powerful,” Sebastian said definitively. 

Quinn said, “Way more powerful than either of us. Or the rest of the circle put together. He’s … he’s in a league all his own. But I guess that’s what happens when you combine two of the most powerful and oldest bloodlines. None of us have that. What he can do … it’s terrifying.”

Kurt held his breath.

“I’m not scared of him,” Sebastian declared.

Kurt could have cried again. 

“Neither am I,” Quinn said, reeking of sincerity. “Make no mistake, what he can do is scary. I’m scared for him. I’m scared that he could lose control or hurt someone on accident, but I’m not scared of him. I love him too. And I am not going to turn my back on him. We’re going to get him through this, no matter what it takes. We’re a circle and we’re family and that’s all that matters.”

Quinn kissed his cheek again, then stood and announced that she was going. Kurt heard her shuffle across the room, and then the door opened.

“Quinn?” Sebastian called out.

“What is it?” her voice was at a whisper. 

“Thank you.”

She mumbled a reply and was gone.

After a second Sebastian settled back down, wrapped around Kurt like an octopus, breathing evenly. “I love you,” he said against the back of Kurt’s neck. “And I’m here.”

Kurt could feel the stinging in his legs, the burning in his arms, and the pounding in his head, nothing that even prescription drugs could take away. But there was also love swelling in his heart and as he willed himself to fall asleep, he dared to hope that even if he was a monster, he could still be cherished by the one person he would die for.

There were no dreams that night.

In the morning, Sebastian prodded him gently and asked, “You awake yet?”

Kurt blinked open sleepy eyes and asked, “Huh? What?”

Sebastian laughed and kissed his forehead. “You’d freak if you saw yourself right now.”

“Bedhead?” Kurt asked, voice still raw. He tried to reach a hand up, the bandages along his forearms coming into view.

Sebastian caught his wrist gently and said, “No matter what, you look great. I mean, you’d look even better with post-sex hair, but we can work up to that.”

Kurt groaned and closed his eyes again.

Softly, Sebastian nudged him with his nose, asking, “You doing okay? Last night was … rough.”

Kurt opened his eyes once more. “I almost died.” It was sinking into him, like panic, how close he’d come to actually dying. 

“Your mother’s magic saved you.”

“It helped me kill a bunch of people.”

“Hey,” Sebastian said roughly. He leaned over Kurt as they stretched out on the bed. “Listen to me. I’m going to tell you the same thing that I said after we gave that amazing concert. When someone attacks you, and they’re trying to kill you, you have the right to do whatever takes to live. In fact, I’d never forgive you if you didn’t fight as hard as you need to, in order to survive. These people, Kurt, these hunters, they got so close last night. You’re really hurt. That’s how close. And I would never, for one second, judge you or think differently of you because you killed them in self defense.”

“I’m a monster,” Kurt ground out.

“You are not, and don’t you say that.”

“I am,” Kurt argued. “You don’t know. You just don’t know.”

“Then you make me understand.”

Kurt looked at him, at the fire and determination in Sebastian’s eyes, and the desperate love on his face. This boy, he was in love with Kurt. He really did love him, and because of that, Kurt couldn’t help saying, “I love you, you know?”

Sebastian looked a little startled, but then returned quickly, “I love you too.”

“But you won’t,” Kurt said, “because of what I was feeling when I was killing those men. When I killed them all, and the witch traitor, I liked it. There was something in me that was happy about it, and justified and so damn on board with the idea that this goes beyond shame. There is something in me, Sebastian, that delights in using my magic to hurt people. I didn’t think that was me. I thought I could fight it. But I can’t. And you can’t love someone who likes to hurt people.”

Sebastian told him firmly, “You don’t get to tell me who I can and can’t love.”

“But--”

“It’s an echo.” Sebastian released his hold on Kurt and sat up, crossing his legs and helping Kurt turn more towards him. “You realize that? The darkness you feel? The evil? It’s just an echo of the magic in your mother’s blood. She wasn’t evil. You said Cooper said that. She had full control of her magic and she wasn’t evil. But there also is truth to the fact that her bloodline, going back hundreds of years, has used their magic for evil purposes. Magic isn’t good or evil, but it does imprint and you inherited blood that’s imprinted with evil. That doesn’t make you evil. You couldn’t be evil if you tried.”

“You don’t know that for sure.”

Sebastian crossed his arms. “I certainly do. You, Kurt Hummel, have that echo of dark magic in you, but you also have the best of both of your parents in you. You have as much capacity for good, as you do evil, and I know which one you’ve already chosen. Neither can you control your outbursts of magic, so you don’t get the blame for that, either.”

“But I kill people when they happen,” Kurt said. “It started with Fischer, and I’ve just been working my way up to the actual deed since then.”

Sebastian shook his head. “You don’t get it, do you?”

“Get what?”

Sebastian leaned forward, head tilting, and kissed Kurt gingerly on the mouth. They both had morning breath, but it was about the intimacy, and not the pleasure. “We bound the circle for the right reasons,” Sebastian said. “We bound it to keep the people around us safe, and to control our magic. When you took your place the sixth member of our circle, you bound your father’s magic to the circle. The legacy you inherited from him can only be used with circle magic. Your mother’s magic, however, is unchecked in you. When you lose control, that’s the only magic you can access. That’s why bad things happen.”

“Then what do I do?” Kurt asked with a shaking voice. “I can’t control it.”

“Your mother could,” Sebastian said with a shrug. “From what I hear, from what I’ve been able to get out of my mom, your mom was more powerful than your father, and he was the guy in his circle that everyone turned to.”

“He was the lynchpin,” Kurt said quietly. 

“So,” Sebastian drawled out, “if your mother wasn’t evil, but she was insanely powerful, and she was able to use her family magic, then why couldn’t you do the same? You just need to practice your control. You need to work on your emotions, and the rage I know that kind of magic makes you feel. So when you do have an outburst, people don’t get hurt.”

That seemed such a simple idea, simple and idealistic and Kurt didn’t really know if it could be done that way.

“She had her family,” Kurt told Sebastian. “She had a whole line of witches that taught her control. I have … I had my father, who did nothing but hide things from me. There’s no one. Just me.”

“You have me and you have the rest of your circle.” Sebastian reached for Kurt’s hand. “None of us know what you’re going through. None of us has your complex magical legacy and none of us can pretend to know how hard it is for you to deal with the war raging inside you. But we are here, and we will help and if we can’t help, we’ll support you. We will do whatever it takes to see you through this. And I am so sorry that I let you get hurt again.”

Kurt leaned back with a frown. “Let me get hurt?”

“I promised,” Sebastian said angrily, “that I would keep it from happening. I said I’d protect you and have your back, and I wasn’t there. Some bitch snuck you out right from under my nose. And I never know you’re in danger until it’s too late. I know you’re a target, but I don’t go the extra mile. I … I fail you all the time.”

Kurt flicked him on the forehead. “Idiot.”

“Ow!” Sebastian grabbed his forehead. “What was that for? That really hurt!”

Pointedly, Kurt said, “That’s for being an idiot. You are … amazing. You go above and beyond the call. I never worry if you’re going to be there for me. I always know you’re coming. I always know you’re watching out for me. I don’t want to be that guy who always needs his boyfriend to bail him out of trouble, but there are people who have tried to kill me. I think that calls for a Knight in shinning armor. Maybe just a little, but still.”

At the word, Knight’s head poked up from where he’d been laying on his doggy bed across the room. He raised himself up and padded over to the bed where he jumped up, ducking under Kurt’s hand for some petting.

“You have never,” Kurt said almost viciously, “failed me. And you saved me last night. That’s for sure.”

“You took care of those guys yourself.”

The picture of them in pieces up in the trees, blood coming down like rain, would stay with Kurt forever. But for the moment, he argued, “All but one. And he would have killed me. I didn’t have the strength or the magic to do anything about him, but you and Quinn got him away from me.”

“We killed him.”

That caught Kurt off guard. “You …”

“You’re not the only one who has taken a life.” Sebastian’s own hand joined Kurt and together they smoothed down the shorthairs on Knight’s coat. “We were running, and I saw him standing over you, and I knew we were still so far away that there was no way we’d get to you in time. So I took Quinn’s hand, and I thought about how I would kill him before I’d ever let him touch you. I wanted him dead so he wouldn’t be a threat and you’d be okay. I don’t know what Quinn was thinking, but that’s what I was, and he ended up a hundred feet away with his knife sticking out of his chest.”

Kurt held his breath. He supposed that was the reason they didn’t do magic while they were emotionally charged, and why they said spells to focus their magic, so it didn’t run out of control and hurt people. 

“Are you sacred of me?” Sebastian asked.

“No!” Kurt almost choked the word out. “How could I be scared of you?”

Sebastian kissed him again, his fingers against Kurt’s jaw. “I just want you to know that I will never be scared of you, because I know you will never be scared of me. And that’s all that matters.”

Kurt wrapped his arms around Sebastian and the both of them fell back onto the bed. For that moment, just for the blink of an eye, everything was okay.

The knock on his door was heavy, and there wasn’t enough time for Kurt to untangle himself from Sebastian before his uncle was coming in, dressed for work but an unhappy expression on his face.

“Kurt,” his uncle said stiffly. “And Sebastian. I think now is the perfect time to talk about decorum in this house.”

Kurt might have nearly thrown himself away from Sebastian. “What?”

His uncle looked almost pained. “I know that the both of you have been dating for a bit now, and you’ve become very comfortable with each other as a result of that. I also wasn’t a teenager myself that long ago. I know the kinds of things that you can feel, and how easily they can overwhelm you. But it’s important to remember that you’re sixteen Kurt, and you’ve only been sixteen for a very short while. Urges are--”

“Oh my god!” Kurt felt faint. “Are you trying to give us the sex talk?”

Next to him on the bed, Sebastian paled. “We’re not having sex, sir.”

“Sex is nothing to be ashamed of,” his uncle said patiently.

“No.” Sebastian scooted to the edge of the bed and stood. “Sir, I know I have a bit of a … reputation around school. Before Kurt I liked to mess around with a lot of different people.” It was a defense mechanism, really. “But I never slept with any of them. Honest. I’ve never slept with anyone.”

Kurt shook his head. “This is not happening.”

Sebastian spared him a look. “The point I’m trying to make is that I’m a virgin, and I know Kurt is a virgin, and shit, sorry, this is awkward, but I really want my first time to be with him. It’s just not that time right now. Do you get it? Sir? I mean …”

His dad would have killed Sebastian. Kurt knew that emphatically. His father would have already strangled him to death, if Sebastian had told his father that he wanted to have sex with Kurt.

“We’re not having sex,” Kurt spoke up. “Uncle Andy. I swear that to you. We’re not even anywhere close to having sex. I know we end up in bed together a lot, but that’s about comfort. It’s about intimacy, and intimacy is not the same as sex. I don’t want to have sex with Sebastian right now, but our relationship is growing fast, and you may think sixteen is young, but we’re not babies. We need intimacy, and I need you to trust me.”

His uncle stared at him. “Trust is important.”

Kurt nodded. “I want you to trust me to know how far I’m comfortable going, and to make that choice myself.”

His uncle’s gaze turned to Sebastian. “My brother would have killed you by now.”

Kurt let out a chuckle as Sebastian said, “I’m fully are of that. And thank you. For not … shooting me with that rifle I know you have downstairs.”

“You’re not a baby, Kurt,” his uncle said, looking back to him. “You’re almost an adult. I want to protect you, but you’re right, I also need to trust you. But in return I want you to trust me. Trust me enough to tell me anything. Trust me with whatever you need to, and know that I won’t do anything to betray that trust. If you promise me something, Kurt, I will believe you, and I will trust you.”

Kurt couldn’t help crawling his way to the edge of the bed and reaching out to hug his uncle. “You’re the best, Uncle Andy.”

“But,” the older man said sharply, “we do need to set some boundaries, about what’s okay and what isn’t. You’re asking for intimacy and that’s … okay. I guess. But this is my mother’s house, Kurt, and we have to treat it with respect. You have to respect me in that regard, too. That means no heavy petting here. And no sleepovers at your boyfriend’s house if you can’t honestly tell me you’re going to do nothing but actually sleep. Your father respected that boundary with your mother, and I’m asking the same from you.”

“Deal,” Kurt said breathlessly. It was the best deal ever.

Finally the look on his uncle’s face lightened, and he said to Sebastian, “Kurt won’t be going to school today. Doctor Monroe wants me to keep Kurt back a few days to make sure everything is healing like it should, and there isn’t any strain on his body. There won’t be any work for him, either. But if you don’t hurry, you’ll be late.”

Sebastian looked to the clock across the room and said, “It’s ten ‘till. He’s right Kurt. I’ve got to go if I want enough time to swing by my house first. Puck said he’d give me a ride in his grandmother’s station wagon.” Sebastian gave Kurt’ uncle a side look. “Because my car is shop. From the accident.”

Kurt could tell Sebastian wanted to kiss him goodbye. There was an awkwardness in the way he stood, trying not to do it, but afraid to leave without some kind of parting.

Kurt’s uncle sighed and said, “Go on and kiss him. I’m going down to the kitchen. Kurt, meet me there for breakfast in a couple of minutes.”

As soon as his uncle was out the room Sebastian was across the room, on the bed and kissing him in an all consuming manner, working Kurt’s mouth open and holding him as tightly as he dared.

“I love you,” Sebastian said again, like he suddenly couldn’t get enough of the phrase. “And I’ll come by after school, okay? To check on you. Puck is going to be next door the whole day, he’s taking it off from work, so if you need anything, he’s there. But I’ll be here after. I promise.”

Kurt wanted to protest that he didn’t need his boyfriend to baby sit him, but the truth was he really did want Sebastian there. He wanted the company and he wanted the added protection. 

“Alright,” Kurt agreed, “and I love you.”

Kurt toppled back on the bed feeling better than he thought possible, given the previous night’s events. He hugged a pillow to his chest as his uncle called up for him about breakfast, and Knight jumped up on his stomach. This, he decided, was really what being in love felt like. And it was amazing.

“I’m working a half shift today,” his uncle said while they drank their coffee together. “I’ll be home by one.”

Feeling a little dumb, Kurt said, “But today’s Monday.” On Mondays Kurt had a shift at the coffee house after school and even then he managed to get home most of the time before his uncle. Mondays were always long days at the hospital.

His uncle put his empty mug in the sink and ran water into it. “That was before my only nephew was involved in an accident that landed him in the hospital.”

“For a few hours,” Kurt protested. “And it wasn’t that bad.”

“Really.” His uncle gave him a look of disbelief, and Kurt thought maybe he just ought to have been thankful that his uncle was willing to buy the car accident story at all. “But on that subject, you weren’t in a stable enough place last night to tell me what actually happened. I assume Sebastian was driving, right? It was his car that wrecked.”

The last thing Kurt wanted to do was lie to his uncle any more than he already had, and he didn’t want his uncle to dislike Sebastian either. He felt stuck, and mumbled out, “There was a deer. We served to miss it. That’s all. Sebastian is a good driver.”

His uncle did up the buttons on his coat. “Alright. But the point is, you were in an accident, you’re injured, and I want to make sure you’re okay. I’ll be home around one and we can talk some more about this accident then.” So he had until one to make up a more believable story? “And the substance they found in your blood.”

“Uncle Andy?” Kurt slid down from his chair with a frown. “Substance?”

“Rhophynol.”

Kurt blanched. “I …”

“I don’t think your boyfriend ruffied you, Kurt. You’re a smart boy and I know you wouldn’t be with him if that were the case, and it was a mild dose, only enough to take you out for an hour the doctor thinks, but there’s no getting around that it was in your system and I want to know why.”

Kurt fought down fear. There was no way he could tell his uncle that a psychotic witch had slipped him the drug so that she and a half dozen witch hunters could drag him out to the forest and murder him. No way.

“You want trust,” his uncle reminded, “and so do I. I’ll see you around one.”

His uncle left and Kurt deflated against the chair. The day was shaping up to be a complete failure in his eyes.

And it didn’t get better when he heard his phone ringing upstairs. He had specialized rings for all of his circle, and most of his closer friends at school, but he could hear the generic, default tone that came with the phone from up in his bedroom. There was no telling who was calling from downstairs, so he set off for it.

He wanted to think he was okay, but it took a lot out of him to get up the stairs. He was out of breath and sweating by the time he made it, his legs like rubber and his arms burning once more. He’d get to take another pill for the pain soon, but part of him was thankful for the reminder that he was still alive. That he’d fought like hell to stay that way.

“Hello?” Kurt asked curiously. He didn’t recognize the number on the phone.

“Kurt.”

That was Cooper’s voice. Kurt wasted no time asking, “What’s going on? Do you know what happened to me last night? There was this woman, and she--”

“Kurt! Kurt!” Cooper sounded out of breath, like he could be running, or just hurrying somewhere fast. “Listen to me. I need you to listen to me right now. Don’t say anything.”

Kurt sealed his lips.

“Are you there?” Cooper demanded.

“You said not to say anything!”

“Do not trust anyone,” Cooper hissed out. “No one. Not the mailman, not your English teacher, not even a doctor at the hospital you were with last night.” So Cooper did know. Kurt had expected that, even if Cooper hadn’t come to see him. “They’re everywhere, Kurt.”

He couldn’t help himself. “The hunters?”

“They’re like termites,” Cooper continued. “They’ve infiltrated everywhere in this town. They’re at your school. They’re at the hospital. They’re down the street and at the grocery store. You probably live within a block of one. That woman who lured you to her house last night, she used my name, didn’t she?”

“It wasn’t like she said you were friends.” Kurt admitted, “But she mentioned you by name, and made it seemed like you were at least aware of each other. I think that’s how I trusted her enough to go to her house. That and she talked about my mom. She was willing to talk about my mom.”

“Don’t do that again.”

Kurt was confused, but he bit down on whatever he wanted to say and listened.

Cooper told him, “There’s something big happening. It’s been building for a while, and it’s going to happen soon. No, I don’t know what it is, but it’s drawn hunters to this town, along with witches who wouldn’t want to be within a state’s distance of them. They’re all converging, coming here, and I was wrong, it wasn’t your circle that drew them all here. That’s the bonus, but this is something much bigger. It’s something that has people nervous and scared, and it has something to do with why they tried to kill you last night.”

“This event is tied to that?”

“Yes.”

Desperate, Kurt asked, “Can you find out what it is?”

Cooper was quick to say, “No, I can’t. Not yet. And I’m … I’m being followed. I knew I wouldn’t be anonymous forever here, but I’ve got hunters on my ass. I have to leave town for a while, at least until things settle down. It’ll give me a chance to look into what’s going down in this town, and keep safe.”

“Don’t worry about Blaine, okay? He’s gone out of town as of today, too. And when he comes back, I’ll keep an eye on him. You don’t have to worry.”

“I know,” Cooper said hotly, “that Blaine is safe right now. The hunters want me because I’m looking into something they’re trying to hide, and they want you dead because of obvious reasons. Blaine is just a speck to them. They know they can’t draw me out with him, either. He’s had that kind of magical protection on him since he was a baby. It’s tailored to siblings. Specialized. If you’d had a sibling, you would have had it as well.”

Kurt took a breath. “So you’re leaving town. Do you know when you’re coming back? We … we need you, Cooper. I know you know that. We’re flying blind here, out of our element, and you’re the only thing keeping us topside.”

“I can’t stay,” Cooper said, sounding like he wanted anything but that. “But I’ll be back. You just have to hold on. Just remember what I said. Don’t trust anyone outside of your circle. Don’t trust anyone, Kurt. I mean it. Don’t go anywhere with anyone and stay in populated areas. I don’t care if you think you know some kid from school and you’re best buddies in French class. You don’t go with him and you don’t make yourself vulnerable. You bleed just like a norm, Kurt. And they will bleed you out in a second.”

Grasping at straws, Kurt asked, “What about my uncle?”

Finally some good news broke, and Cooper said, “Trust him. Above your circle, trust him. He’s your protector, even if he doesn’t know it. You can trust him with everything, Kurt.”

“With my magic?” Kurt wondered. “He doesn’t even know.”

“We aren’t sure about that, remember?”

Kurt hadn’t said a word to his uncle, just in case. What if his uncle didn’t know ? What if Kurt scared him or freaked him out, or ruined the relationship they had? He couldn’t chance that, not with the last bit of family he had left. At least not until now.

“I’ve never seen anything from him that leads me to believe he’s a witch. Or that he’d understand that I am.”

“It’s your call,” Cooper said, noises sounding on his side of the line. “Do what you want, but remember what I said and don’t take risks. You’re important, Kurt. You are more important than I realized and we can’t afford anything to happen to you.”

The phone clicked off and Kurt wanted to throw it against the far wall. Cooper and his cryptic warnings were getting old and annoying and Kurt hated that he was leaving town when they needed him most. Cooper was their most valuable ally. How could he just abandon them?

Trust his uncle. That was what Cooper had said. Trust his circle, and trust his uncle, but no one else. Trust his uncle.

Could he do what he was thinking of? Could he tell his uncle he was a witch? Could he shatter the picture of normalcy between them and change everything forever? 

Somehow it felt like the choice was out of his hands. He couldn’t hide things from his uncle very well to begin with, but now, with his injuries, and with the hunters becoming even more volatile and bold, he just couldn’t manage. He had to risk it. He had to say something, and he had to hope that his uncle had either been a witch at one point, or at least knew something about magic.

His uncle was home at one-twenty and Kurt was waiting for him in the study. “Can I talk to you, Uncle Andy?” Kurt asked, digging deep.

“About this morning?” His uncle asked, slipping into the chair across from him. He had pulled his sweater over his head and was in just his scrubs. 

“I want to …” Kurt didn’t really know how to start, but he had to try. “I want to tell you what really happened last night. It wasn’t a car accident. And I don’t want you to hate me for something that was never my choice.”

“Kurt?” his uncle leaned forward, elbows on knees, looking serious. “You know you can tell me anything. I love you, and there is nothing you can say to me that will change that. I’m going to severely disapprove if there is a body buried in the backyard, but I will still love you. You are my nephew, you are my family, and you can be honest with me.”

The joke about the body hit home and Kurt thought of those men, in pieces, in the trees. What if he hurt his uncle with his magic? How could he ever forgive himself? How could he even live with himself?

“I’m a witch.”

There. He’d said it. Plain and blunt and raw. 

“Kurt,” his uncle sighed, “I know it’s been a little rough lately, but there’s no need to call yourself names.”

Kurt shook his head. “No. I’m a witch. I have magic in me. Magic from my mom, and magic from my dad, albeit different kinds. I am a spell practicing witch and I’m kind of hoping you already knew that.”

He knew. Kurt could see it on his face before his uncle said anything. He knew and Kurt could have wept with relief. 

“Of course I knew.”

“Why didn’t you say anything?” Kurt leapt up, no longer surprised. “You always knew, didn’t you? And you knew my dad was a witch!”

“How could you not be a witch?” His uncle asked, voice laced with rhetoric. “Your father was amazingly powerful. I mean, before he even had a circle, he’d have dreams and the lights in the house would flicker. I was a little, little kid, and I remember my nightlight going on and off while Burt tossed and turned. Your dad was probably the most powerful witch this coast has ever seen, save for your grandfather. And maybe you.”

Kurt braced himself on the desk. “I came here not knowing who I was--what I was! I came here ignorant, and everyone around me knew exactly who I was and that I was a witch, and exactly what I was capable of. They knew and I didn’t and you didn’t think I deserved to know what was going on with me? I was being attacked! And how dad died, that was because of a witch!”

Suddenly his uncle looked so old. And he said with sorrow, “Your father took you away from here because he thought you’d get hurt if he raised you a witch. He knew there were people who’d come after you, and he knew the magic itself could hurt you. He took you and didn’t want any contact with the magical world and he was my big brother, Kurt. He always knew best, so I respect him enough to keep my distance. When you came here, I wanted to tell you. I wanted to prepare you, but I thought maybe if you didn’t know, you could just be a normal kid, and you’d be safe.”

“You were wrong,” Kurt snapped, “and I’ve … I’ve hurt people with my magic already.”

“I don’t believe for a second that it was on purpose.”

“You don’t know me as well as you think.”

His uncle reasoned, “Then you had a good reason for doing so. Your father was a good person and a model witch. I see that in you. I know it to be the truth. I’m not worried.”

Calmer than he had been, Kurt said, “There are witch hunters here, and they want me dead. They want my circle broken and demolished. I need your help. You’re the only adult witch I know, aside from Cooper, and he’s gone to ground. You have to help, because my circle and I don’t know what we’re doing.”

“But Kurt,” his uncle said gently, “I’m not a witch.”

Numbness. That was what Kurt felt. “How … but … that doesn’t make sense. Dad was a witch. And you said my grandfather was. The Hummel line is pure and strong. Everyone in the line has been a witch for four hundred years or more. How can you not be a witch?”

There was a picture frame of his father on the desk, young, standing next to Kurt’s grandmother and grandfather, with Andy on his shoulders and his Aunt Mildred with her pleated skirt to the side. Kurt only got a glimpse of it before his uncle snatched it up and said, “Your father inherited his magic through his father, but considering his father was not mine, and our mother had no magic, it’s easy to see how I’m not a witch. The same goes for your Aunt Mildred.”

“You’re …” Kurt looked hard at him. “You’re my dad’s half brother?”

His uncle nodded. “Your grandfather, Burt’s father, passed away when your dad was only a baby. Your grandmother …she remarried fairly fast, which was the tradition back then, and had two more children.”

“But your last name is Hummel,” Kurt pointed out. 

“You didn’t grow up here,” his uncle said. “Not in the magic community. You don’t understand the traditions here. My mother’s first husband, George Hummel, was a witch. He passed his legacy to your father, Burt. Because of that, because he was a witch, the name Hummel took precedence over her new husband’s surname. Because of your dad, Hummel blood was still dominant. If my dad had been a witch I would have kept his last name, but because he wasn’t, my mother kept on as a Hummel, and I became one as well. I know, it’s a little confusing, but it’s how things are done here. Magic is always dominant, even in death. It’s how Sebastian ended up a Smythe. His mother’s magic is dominate over his father’s.”

Kurt fell flat on his butt. “So you’re not a witch. But you know about witchcraft and things like that.”

“I do.” He reminded Kurt, “Before you were born things were lax. Witchcraft wasn’t hidden like it is now. It certainly wasn’t banned in certain places. Your father grew up being loved by my dad, but he also had a series of tutors who were older witches. They guided him into being the witch he was, and he never hid it from the family. My mother never let anyone be ashamed of anything in the house, whether it was being a witch or not being a witch. I leaned about witchcraft as if I was a witch, because your father never wanted to let me feel excluded.”

The best case scenario had really been that his uncle was a witch, but it wasn’t so terrible at least that his uncle knew about magic. 

“I found out about the mom’s bloodline. About the Murdock line.”

“You don’t listen to anyone who had something bad to say about that bloodline,” His uncle said sharply. “At least not anyone who wants to badmouth your mother. She made some mistakes, that’s true, but she was just as good of a person as your father. I know all about the negative connotations with her bloodline and she endured a lot of persecution because of it, but I can’t imagine your father would love someone who wasn’t completely worthy. She was good to him and she was good me.”

“You got along with her?” Kurt asked, excited at the prospect. 

“I was young, remember? But yeah, I remember her still. I had paper airplanes that hung from my ceiling when she came to live with us after the fire. She used to make them fly around the room for me. She’d stand behind me and hold my hand out and let me believe that I was making it happen. Your dad would stand in the doorway and watch and even then, when I was so little, I knew he loved her. She let me call her my sister, which made Mildred so mad, because Mildred always enjoyed the perks of being the only girl. Dad doted on her so much.” His uncle looked crestfallen. “I went to her funeral. Mom and dad didn’t want me to, but I kicked and screamed and fought until they let me. I just had to. I had to be there.”

Kurt had only really thought of how his mother’s death had hurt his father. Never how her death had impacted the people around him.

“Last night I met a woman. She told me she knew my mother. She said she had some of her things and she thought I should have them. I went by her house to pick up my mom’s things and she drugged me. She and some witch hunters took me out in to the woods and they tried to burn me. I scratched myself trying to get the runes off my skin that kept me from walking, and when I thought about how they would have killed me even if I was a baby, or how they’d kill any son or daughter I might have, I lost control of my magic. I killed them all. There as no car accident. That’s what happened.”

Solemnly his uncle left the room with heavy footsteps. And it was only a short while before the man returned with the Winchester rifle from the fireplace in his hands. It was pulled into a ready position, braced at his uncle’s shoulder. His uncle said, “This was my father’s rifle. He got it after witch hunters burned your mother’s house and family. She came to live with us and he was scared that they’d try to hurt us. He wasn’t a witch, and he didn’t want to depend on your father to protect us, so he bought this and he slept with it next to the bed every night for as long as he lived. Even after you and your dad were gone and your mom was dead. He always said that a rifle could kill a witch or hunter as easily as magic and he was going to do whatever he had to in order to protect his family.”

“Uncle Andy?”

His uncle’s fingers curled around the rifle expertly. “I’m my father’s son. I’m not a witch, Kurt. I can’t cast spells, I don’t have magic and I will never be what you are. But I’m your uncle, I’m your family, and I will protect you. If anyone wants to get to you, they have to go through me, and I’ll die before I let them take you or hurt you.”

Ever careful of the gun, Kurt pressed himself to his uncle’s side. There were no words to say, only a one armed hug to give and gratitude felt.

“But you know,” his uncle said, “your father had a bound circle, and your mother was part of his. I know witches in bound circles aren’t supposed to be able to do magic on their own, but both of them could. I’m not surprised you can do the same even with a bound circle. You’re extremely powerful, Kurt. You don’t have the same limitations that other witches do. I understand that makes you a target, but it also gives you an advantage. And advantage of any kind during a war like this, between hunters and witches, can tip the scale.”

“Is that what we are?” Kurt asked. “At war?”

Eyes narrowing, his uncle said, “Hunters tried to kill you. And if they set foot in my house, I’ll kill them. I’d say we’re at war.”

“There’s too much talk of killing.” Kurt pressed a hand to his forehead. “I hate it.”

His uncle put the rifle down on the desk in the study with a heavy sound. “You’re right. But it doesn’t change what’s happening.”

Cooper,” Kurt said, “that’s Blaine Anderson’s older brother, he said something is coming to this town. Some event. Something big. It’s on its way here and it’s drawing hunters and witches alike. He says he has something to do with my mother’s bloodline. And I think my mother’s bloodline had something to do with the accident that killed a lot of my father’s circle fifteen years ago. Can you tell me anything more about that? Anything you thought I didn’t need to know back when I wasn’t a witch.”

“You were always a witch.”

“I was always a witch,” Kurt agreed with conviction. 

His uncle looked away, pensively. “I don’t know any more you do. I was eight. In fact, everything about that night is hazy. I only remember my parents getting the call, and rushing down to the hospital where the other parents had gathered with the chief of police. There were a couple of survivors, none of them talking, and one was catatonic. Your dad cried. That was the … it as really the only time I ever saw him cry, other than the day you were born. He sobbed and mom tried to comfort him and dad hit the wall and busted up his knuckles and Mildred cried too. You slept the entire night, all the way through and I remember being back home that night, and getting out of bed. I wanted to go check on Burt. Maybe he needed me.”

Kurt looked on with wide eyes. “Yes?”

“He was laying on his bed, curled so tightly around you. He wasn’t asleep, he didn’t want to talk to me and no matter what I tried, he just laid there. He left that night, Kurt. I went back to bed and he left. I told you I went to your mom’s funeral. Your dad didn’t. He was already gone.”

So there was that. His uncle didn’t have any useful information, and Kurt was back to square one. “I’m sorry,” he mumbled.

“But that was a long time ago,” his uncle said, perking up. “Time heals all wounds. The saying is true. It barely hurts now.” The man cleared his throat “I just want you to know, Kurt, you are a good person and you’re a good witch. It doesn’t matter what kind of blood or magic you have in you, it matters what you choose to do with it. Your father taught me that, and he never would have steered me wrong. And if you need me, I’m here. I’ll do what I can.”

His uncle went upstairs to change after that and Kurt looked to the picture that was back resting on the desk. His father looked so young and so happy in it. It was nice to know for certain now that his father had grown up in such a happy home, blended family or not. And so maybe his uncle wasn’t a witch. There was still a lot he could tell Kurt, and things that Kurt could learn from him. And it just felt better, telling his uncle his secret, and being reassured. 

There was too much happening all around him for Kurt to be sure of anything the future held, but he knew for certain that his uncle would support him, and do his best to protect him, and that was an amazing feeling.

“Pizza tonight?” his uncle called down the stairs in a distant volume. “You get that Smythe boy over here for it, too.”

Voice cracking, Kurt said, “I don’t think that’s a great idea, Uncle Andy.”

Kurt pinched the bridge of his nose as his uncle yelled back, “Nonsense! We haven’t even talked about being safe with condoms yet. Just because you’re gay and can’t get your boyfriend pregnant doesn’t mean you don’t need to use them! It’ll be informative.”

Kurt groaned in despair, but there was a hint of a smile creeping up on his face that he just couldn’t fight. He loved his uncle so much.


	16. Chapter 16

“This is stupid,” Noah declared.

Kurt hugged his jacket closer to his body and trudged on, pushing past shrubbery that he could barely see in the dark of the night. Noah did have a point. He felt a bit stupid, traipsing about in the woods after midnight, searching for something that probably wasn’t there to begin with. But he didn’t dare say as much, not when Quinn was completely convinced.

“It’s been miles,” Sebastian moaned. He was sandwiched between Quinn and Kurt. “And my feet hurt. It’s cold. It’s wet. Can we go home now?”

Kurt said, “Don’t be a big baby. It’s only around thirty degrees, and you’re just complaining about things that no one can fix.”

Sebastian pouted. “You’re not being very supportive of your boyfriend’s feelings.”

“That is hard to do when he sounds like a two year old.”

Quinn pressed on much more head of them, calling back, “I’m sure it’s here.”

“You can’t be,” Noah protested. “I know you’ve never been here before. None of us have.”

Quinn’s hair fell into her line of vision and she looked like a soaked mouse with the way her shoulders hunched in. “I told you, I just know. I’ve been having these dre--”

“Dreams,” Sebastian finished for her, stalking to her side. “I know. We heard you the first fifteen times.”

Noah huffed. “Why can’t you just have normal dreams about sex and flying like everyone else?”

It was probably a wild goose chase, but honestly, it was a Wednesday night, and they didn’t have anything better to do. At least there was little chance of the hunters being able to follow them through the dark woods, and they were less of a target out in the middle of nowhere than sitting at home with their loved ones.

Kurt requested, “Tell us one more time, Quinn. If only so I don’t have to hear these two complain about something they have no choice over.”

She held her hand out to him, took it and said, “You’re my favorite, Kurt.”

Sebastian grumbled. “Of course he is.”

Ignoring him, Quinn said, “Every night for two weeks I’ve had the same dream. It’s the four of us, and we’re here. Those two are complaining and when I hold it out to you, you take my hand. And we’re walking forever, until our feet hurt, until we get to this spot. It’s a place where the trees completely blanket out the moon, and we can’t even see our hands in front of our faces. Then we start digging.”

“Oh?” Sebastian asked, a heavy digging shovel in his hands. “Is that why you insisted we bring this?”

“We dig,” Quinn continued tersely, “until we hit wood. It’s a box.”

“Not another box without a lock I hope,” Sebastian mumbled. “Those are a pain in the ass.” 

Quinn shook her head. “It doesn’t have a lock, and it opens right up. Inside is … well, that’s when I wake up. I would have brushed it off as just a weird dream if I hadn’t had it every single night for two weeks. My grandmother was clairvoyant, you know. And so was her grandmother. Apparently, if you talk to my mother, it runs in the girls, every other generation. Maybe that’s what’s going on here?”

As they moved deeper into the forest it did start to get darker. The trees were bunching together more frequently, and their branches were longer. Before long Kurt had his keys out of his pocket and was holding the tiny flashlight that he had attached to the chain.

Kurt stumbled and Sebastian plastered himself to Kurt’s back. “Careful!” 

Pretty soon the lot of them were almost walking along in a line, though more out of necessity than anything else. Linked together like a chain.

“I think,” Quinn said, “we’re here.”

As Sebastian and Noah took turns digging, Kurt held his flashlight up. And in the dark, cold of the night, they pulled Quinn’s family’s Book of Shadows out of the dirt.

“Look,” Kurt said excitedly once the book was free of the box it had been burred in, and cracked open. Quinn held her book in two open hands and Kurt turned the pages as quickly as he dared, Sebastian holding up the flashlight. “There’s a lot more about charms and herbs in this book than the rest of our put together. And here’s a whole section on runes. Another on dreams and projection. Quinn, your book is amazing.”

Noah huddled in closer. Once they’d come to a standstill the cold had really begun to hit them all. He commented to Kurt, “But all of the books are different like that. Berry’s is heavy on ritual spells. Traditional stuff like that. Kurt, yours is almost a guide to a circle. Yours is based on circle magic. Mine has more about protection spells, and Sebastian’s is way more about offensive magic.”

“Blaine’s,” Kurt wondered, “we haven’t got Blaine’s yet.”

“But we think we know where it is,” Sebastian reminded. “And as soon as he gets back from that school trip, we’re going to break that box open.”

“So,” Quinn surmised, “each book in the circle focuses on something different, but when you put them together, they must end up being a comprehensive anthology of sorts. We need to get these books all together.”

“Agreed,” Kurt said shortly.

Noah’s teeth chattered loud enough to be heard. “That’s great. Fine and dandy. But can we get out of the cold now? It’s freaking me out enough that Quinn walked right out here to the exact spot. I don’t want to freeze to death while I chew on that.”

It was unanimous and Kurt put his arm around Sebastian’s waist for warmth as they made the long walk back.

Quinn and Noah had carpooled together, the same as Kurt and Sebastian. As Quinn drove off with Noah complaining about turning the heater up, Kurt caught Sebastian by the wrist and said, “I have something for you.”

With a frown, Sebastian asked, “You got me something?”

“Well, you get me things all the time.” Kurt held up his wrist pointedly, displaying his new charm. He’d taken off an old star charm the day before and replaced it with the ridiculously adorable tiny silver mold of a coffee mug. “So I thought I’d return the favor.”

Sebastian wrapped him up tightly against the cold. “You don’t have to get me things. You do enough. You do more than enough. And I get you the charms because we both like it. Mrs. Julio who has that silver shop in town, where I get the charms from, made me promise I’d come back to her when I wanted to pick out a wedding ring for you.”

Kurt laughed. “We’re way too young for that.”

“Most of our parents got married when they were just out of high school. At eighteen and nineteen. That’s only a couple years off for us. But for the record, I’m not saying I want to get married that young and have kids and be weighed down with a mortgage or any of that. I’m just saying I like buying the charms for you, probably more than you like wearing them. And if we do make the choice to get married one day, if it’s right for us, I’ve kind of got to buy the ring there. I gave my word.”

Kurt’s lips brushed against Sebastian’s jaw. “I think half the people in this town would absolutely lose it if they knew that you were a romantic at heart.”

“You tell anyone and we’re done.”

Kurt kissed him again. “So I got you a present,” Kurt reminded. “My uncle’s been pulling out all of these things from the attic, from when my father was still living in the house and practicing magic. Mostly just things that we’d use in ceremonies, like silver chalices and a couple of anthems, but I did come across something I really liked, and I wanted you to have it.”

Kurt had the present hidden in his front pocket. He’d been looking for the perfect moment to give it over, and now felt like as good a time as any. 

Sebastian held out his palm and Kurt dropped in it a beautiful green stone, cut into a perfect circle twice the size of a quarter, flat and threaded with a leather strap. 

“Is it jade?” Sebastian asked, holding it up to the moonlight.

Kurt lifted it carefully and passed it over Sebastian’s head, letting it rest firmly down against his chest at a respectable length. “It’s not jade. It’s malachite. It’s used in very old protection spells. It’s supposed to boost the protective magic of whoever is wearing it.” Kurt paused, then asked, “You know I’m younger than the rest of you, right?”

Curious, Sebastian nodded. “Like half a year?”

“Six months younger than Quinn,” Kurt said, and I’m closest to her in age. You and I are almost eight apart.” Kurt tapped the gem hanging around Sebastian’s neck. “My uncle gave this to me and told me about it. My parents were actively trying for a baby when they graduated high school. They were young, but he had a good job in the fishing business here and she was trying to get into painting. I hear she wasn’t half bad. But anyway, the point is, they weren’t hurting for money, and they might have been young, but they knew what they wanted, and that was a family. Neither of them wanted to go to college. So they started trying for a baby, and my mom had three miscarriages in nine months.”

Sebastian pulled him close again. “I’m sorry.”

Shakily, Kurt said, “I think my mom got scared after that. She was scared she’d lose another baby if they kept trying, so my dad had this made for her. Then he wove protection spells into it. You can feel them, right?”

Sebastian blinked owlishly. “Is that what this is I’m feeling? I wasn’t sure. This is how you feel to me most of the time, or something really close to it. It’s just … vague. Like an echo.”

“I’m not surprised you didn’t pick up on it right away,” Kurt laughed. “This is my father’s magic, when he was at his height, and it’s the same magic he passed to me. It should feel about the same.”

“It feels amazing,” Sebastian said. 

Kurt beamed. “My father gave this to my mother, and they tried again, and they had me. Kind of like a miracle baby, considering the doctor told her that her that the previous miscarriages had caused some damage. So in light of that my uncle said that my parents had one of these made for me on the day I was born, but it’s been lost over the years. This is the only one that remains. And I want you to wear it, so you’re protected.”

“Maybe I want you protected,” Sebastian urged.

Kurt held up his wrist again. “Like you thought I wouldn’t be able to feel the magic you’ve put into these charms?”

“I’m not as gifted as you, Kurt. Or your father. My magic isn’t as strong.”

“You underestimate yourself.” Kurt kissed him firmly. “Because I never feel more safe than when I’m with you.”

Sebastian lingered for a minute, his fingers locking together behind Kurt’ back, not quite ready to let him go just yet.

“What?” Kurt asked, a smile on his face.

“Nothing,” Sebastian said finally. “Let’s get out of here. It’s creepy and cold and we’re going to be noticed.”

“Okay.” Kurt shrugged. 

Blaine came back the next day from his school trip, and the same as with Sebastian, all it took was his presence and a simple spell to crack the box. Like they’d all suspected, contained inside was the Anderson Book of Shadows.

“Why would Cooper give this to you?” Blaine asked, sounding put off if not angry. “I’m his brother.”

Kurt guessed, “When I talked to him he said that the hunters couldn’t use you against him. That you were protected against that kind of thing, but that you could still be a target to them if they thought you were practicing. Well, they know now, but that was before. Maybe he kept it from you to protect you. I’m not sure. But it’s yours. I was just holding onto it for you. I’m not going to try and keep it from you.”

He turned the book over quickly to Blaine, nudging the box away, and they hunched together, shoulders pressed as they looked through it. Blaine’s book, fascinatingly enough, had more to do with the supernatural than Kurt had thought real.

“The Fae?” Blaine asked skeptically, breezing through the pages. “Changelings?”

“We’re witches,” Kurt said with a deadpan. “We cast spells and make the impossible happen, and you don’t think there’s a chance that there are things out there that we can only begin to imagine? Think about it.”

Blaine frowned and turned another age. The face of something evil sketched into the pages staring up at them “But demons? Come on. I like Supernatural as much as the next guy, and Castiel is pretty much my free pass. But demons? Like god and the devil, demons?”

Kurt looked down at the haunting pages, turning the book towards himself. There were warnings about them, runes and wards for protection, and spells to potentially fight them off. And there were more sketches, pictures of dark beings and horrible apparitions. It made him think of the book on demons his father had had. The one he’d meant to go back and look at, but had forgotten about.

“I don’t believe in god,” Kurt said plainly. “and I don’t believe in the devil. I believe in things you can touch, and see, and prove. I believe in logic and knowledge and reasoning. I don’t believe in religion. But I’m a witch. I can do amazing things and I play with magic. I have a circle and I’m powerful. That … I don’t know how that all fits in with religion. I don’t know if it does at all, but this isn’t the first time I’ve heard demons mentioned.”

Blaine was pale. “Demons, Kurt. I don’t like the sound of that at all, fake or not.”

Kurt agreed with a firm nod. “You and me both.”

Blaine closed the book with a sigh and glanced to Kurt’s clock. “Come on,” he said. “We’ve got a meeting with the circle. We need to put the books together and see what we can come up with.”

The books were pieces to a whole. That much was clear. But even when they were put together, and a timeline figured out, there still wasn’t much information. The books were deceptively mute about their parent’s accident, even though all six referenced the event. Some more than others.

“It’s like they’re scared,” Rachel said, pacing the floor of the lighthouse. “No, really, look at the tone of the writing in all of the books. They’re scared. The people who wrote these words were scared of whatever happened.”

“I’d be scared too, if my circle drowned,” Quinn mumbled. “Or at the least if I lost a bunch of my friends in a horrible accident that maybe wasn’t just an accident.”

“No,” Rachel argued, “Not that kind of scared. Not the sacred you feel when someone you love gets sick. I’m talking the kind of scared we felt when those hunters tried to kill Kurt.”

Kurt ran a hand over his face and asked, “Isn’t anyone going to say it? Have any of you noticed yet?”

Noah shrugged. “That this secretive bullshit is getting old really fast?”

“No,” Sebastian answered for Kurt. “That in all of the six books, Kurt’s mom is the only one who’s specifically named from the circle. Not even Burt Hummel is written about, not in relation to the accident.” Sebastian gave Kurt a sorry look. “Some of the books talk about her like a hero. And some of them say she’s ... well, look at Blaine’s. Whoever wrote this entry in there calls Kurt’s mom a danger.”

Quinn said demurely, “Mine calls her a monster.”

“I’ve thought it for a while,” Kurt said quietly. “That whatever happened was my mom’s fault. She … she was the only one in my dad’s circle that had dark magic, and we all know how easily it can explode with a mind of its own. She could have been responsible, at least in part. I feel like she was at least partially to blame. I have this gut feeling.”

“How many survivors were there?” Noah asked. “A couple right?”

Kurt remembered, “Three that were actually there. A brother and sister pair, and a third who’s been in a coma like state since then. I don’t think any of them are going to be of any help. My uncle said as much. Those of us who had parents who survived that night, it was because they weren’t there, so they can’t help either. They won’t talk, and even if they did, they wouldn’t know anything.”

“Memory projection,” Quinn said.

Kurt turned to her. “What as that?”

“Nothing,” she said apologetically. “I’m just looking through my book. There’s an entry here that talks about being able to go into someone’s memory. But more than just that, to be able to relive it with them. Like you were there. I was just thinking, if we had someone who was there, we could go into their memory. We could see what they saw. But there isn’t. It’s a pointless spell if we don’t have anyone to use it on.”

Suddenly, Kurt said to Sebastian, “I think I need to talk to your mom.”

“Why?”

Kurt looked at all of them. “Because my father was supposed to be there with my mother that night. And so was Sebastian’s mother. But they weren’t. They sailed out afterwards, on my dad’s rig. They saw the aftermath. They pulled people …bodies from the water. So maybe they weren’t there, but they must have seen something. It’s all we have, considering my dad is gone.”

“Kurt.” Sebastian sounded embarrassed. “I don’t know if you’re going to get anything from my mom. You’ve seen her more than everyone else here put together. She’s not all there. Not anymore. What she remembers … sometimes it isn’t what really happened. She gets lost and confused in her own mind, regardless of the pills.”

“It’s worth a shot,” Kurt shrugged.

Blaine nodded. “It’s all we have.”

“Plus,” Kurt added, “she’s more likely to talk to me than anyone else. Half the time she thinks I’m my father. Maybe I can get her to talk. I have to try.”

Slowly, nods came from each member of the circle, no matter how reluctantly.

“While you do that, I’ll see if I can track down this brother and sister,” Rachel announced. “Since all of you seem so quick to write them off.”

Noah rolled his eyes. “I’ll help.” He gave Sebastian guilty look that slid over to Kurt. “I’m kind of banned from the café for the next decade. Call it a … youthful dalliance into stupidity.”

Quinn scoffed, “Why am I not surprised?”

“I want to know why she trusted me with your book,” Kurt told Sebastian. “And I want to know the truth.”

“Okay,” Sebastian said. “Okay, Kurt.”

Kurt half expected to track Sebastian’s mother down at the Smythe residence. She’d spent nearly a week holed up in there, talking nonsense that made Sebastian’s expression tighten up and Kurt have to work twice as hard to put him at ease. But in fact when he went looking for her he found her stirring a cup of amber tea in the corner of the coffee shop. She looked surprisingly lucid.

“Mrs. Smythe?” Kurt asked tentatively. Over half of the circle was in the far corner, with only Rachel and Noah gone to search out the surviving siblings. “Can I speak with you for a second? It’s Kurt.”

She looked up from her tea. “I know your name already, dear.”

“Sorry.” Kurt jerked back. “I just …”

“Haven’t ever seen me completely sober?”

Kurt felt guilty. “Yes.”

She didn’t seem angry or upset. “I couldn’t do it anymore. Not with the end coming. I want my son to live.”

Kurt slowly sat across from her. “Mrs. Smythe, do you know why I’m here? What I want to ask you?”

She nodded. “The same thing you asked before.”

“The accident.”

Sebastian’s mother looked out to the bay. “You want answers I can’t give, Kurt.”

“But you could!” he protested. “You could. You’re just scared. Or you don’t want to. I don’t know which it is. You know what happened out there on that boat. Why won’t you tell me? She was my mother.”

She looked him straight in the eyes, and her words were a promise when she told him, “I don’t know what happened out there, Kurt. I wasn’t there. I only know what I saw from the sailboat.”

She was hiding something. Kurt could feel it in his gut. She knew something, or she was holding something back, or she wasn’t telling him nearly the whole truth. Maybe she wasn’t doing it on purpose. Maybe she’d blocked it all out. But there was something there she wasn’t saying and he didn’t think there would be anything he could say to actually get it out of her. 

“Then can I ask you what you saw from the sailboat? Because we both know everything changed the night of that accident. Your circle’s past is my circle’s future. I feel bad for you, I really do, but my priority is my circle, and I will do whatever is necessary to protect them. Your only child is a part of that circle, so you could make protecting him easier.”

“I was supposed to be there,” she said, voice low and distraught. “I should have been there.”

“Mrs. Smythe?” she wasn’t drugged to the gills for once, but neither was she making sense. Maybe she never made sense anymore. Emotional trauma had a way of damaging a person for life.

“I was stuck,” she told Kurt.

“Stuck?”

She wouldn’t look away from the water. “Stuck watching from the sidelines. There was nothing your father or I could do. We waited too long. We were stupid and foolish to think Elizabeth would wait. Your father trusted her, and I trusted him.”

Kurt put his hands flat on the table. “What did my mother do?”

“Your poor uncle,” she moaned, startling Kurt. “To see all those people, bobbing in the water. So see so much death at such a young age.”

Kurt reeled back, turning frightened eyes to his circle who were watching, but too far away to hear anything. Kurt choked a little and he must have looked like he was moments away from a breakdown with the way Sebastian surged to his feet, ready to be at his side.

Kurt spun back to her. “My uncle was there? On the sailboat with you and my dad?”

She finally met his gaze with a nod. “Andrew liked to go everywhere your father went. He was Burt’s shadow, and he was so good at it. We never even knew he was there, not until he started screaming.”

This time, less cordial, Kurt said, “You know what led up to the accident. You may not have been there, but you said you waited too long. You knew what was happening on that boat that night, didn’t you? Tell me. Damnit, tell me something!”

“I can tell you not to make her mistakes, Kurt.”

“What?”

“Your mother,” she said. “She had such good intentions, but she made such poor choices. We all suffered, your father the worst. Death would have been a blessing. I should have been there. Maybe I could have stopped her.” Then she closed her mouth and he knew she wouldn’t say a word more to him.

He could have thrown his chair through the nearest window. That was how frustrated he was.

“Your uncle was there?” Quinn asked when Kurt relayed what he could to them.

“I guess.” There was still anger in Kurt, and he fought to keep a lid on it, even as the magic in him made his fingers tingle. “He was there and neither of them knew it.”

“So another dead end,” Quinn sighed out. “The last real lead we had.”

Sebastian’s hand was a heavy comfort at the back of Kurt’s neck as he asked, “Do you want me to try and talk to her?”

“No.” Kurt shook his head. “She won’t say. I know it. She’ll take it to her grave. Whatever she knows is scaring her into silence.”

“But your uncle was there?” Blaine asked again, as if he were still confused.

Kurt said, “I guess he was hiding down below deck when they sailed out after my mom and the circle. The sailboat wasn’t that big, but I’ve seen pictures, and there was a tiny hide away down below. A small kid could have easily gone unnoticed.”

“So he was there,” Blaine eased out. “And that means he might not have known what was going to happen that night, not like Sebastian’s mom did, but he could hear them talking. I bet they were talking about it. I bet you anything he heard something.”

Kurt pressed towards Sebastian. “But this doesn’t make any sense. My uncle swore that he wasn’t there, and didn’t know anything about it. But now Sebastian’s mother is telling me the exact opposite.”

Quinn seemed to be fighting back words for quite a while until she told Kurt, “The last time I looked through the Hummel book … Kurt, I’m not sure your dad would do this, but there’s a spell in there. A memory spell. Not like the kind in my book. This spell takes memories and makes it seem like they never even happened in the first place. I’m not talking about erasing them, but making them more into … like a dream. Like something you can’t really remember, and barely know is there.”

“You think my dad would do that to my uncle? That seems like … like something morally wrong. I don’t think he’d do that.”

“I would,” Sebastian said suddenly. “If I was your dad and my little brother, or someone I loved saw something horrible, something that I knew would haunt them for the rest of their lives, I’d do the same. I’m not saying it’s right, but sometimes we do the right things for the wrong reasons, and the wrong things for the right reasons. I’d do it, and I think your dad would too. I think he did.”

Quinn said seriously, “Supressing memories is a difficult business, Kurt. You can’t be sure you got them all, either. Your uncle probably still has echoes of that night in his mind. Maybe he remembers more than your father thought he would and he just doesn’t know it. It’s possible.”

“Then we could have a chance,” Kurt mused. “If there’s anything left, we could be able to see it.”

The excitement in Kurt was stopped the minute Quinn said, “It’s a bad idea.”

She was the last person he’d expected resistance from. He’d always helped her, no matter what. He couldn’t understand why she couldn’t help him.

“Why?” Blaine asked. “Sounds good to me.”

“My grandmother was a medium,” Quinn told them all again. “I know something about dream sharing. I know about being in other people’s dreams. Before she passed away she had agreed to apprentice me in that talent. And she taught me that you don’t want to go into the memories of other people if it can be helped at all.”

“I take it there’s a good reason?” Sebastian raised an eyebrow.

“Because it’s dangerous,” she ground out. “Memories are unstable. They’re unpredictable. And you can be hurt in them. Your mind can be hurt. You can get trapped in someone’s memories if you’re not careful, or spend a hundred years wandering around in someone’s head if they’ve built it up like a labyrinth. And we’re talking about going into someone’s memories who has very likely had those same memories tampered with. It’s not safe and bad things could happen. No, Kurt. I’m putting this to a vote, and I know Rachel will agree with me.”

Sebastian snapped, “Of course she will. But it’s Kurt’s risk, isn’t it? It’s everyone’s personal risk, if they want to try it.”

“Do you want him to die?”

Sebastian paled. “What?”

“It’s possible to die in someone’s memories, especially if they’re in shambles like I think Kurt’s uncle’s are. Kurt could get lost and he could lose focus and he could die. I know you don’t want that. And Kurt is one of us, so it’s not just his choice to make. It’s not just his risk.”

Kurt could see it on their faces as he looked from person to person. They wouldn’t back him. Not even Sebastian who Kurt thought would have supported him no matter what. No. Sebastian loved him too much to support him. Sebastian was fixated on keeping him safe, and for that reason, he wouldn’t agree to it.

“You can’t do it,” Quinn told him kindly. “I’m sorry. I know you want to try, but the circle can’t let you risk yourself like that, and you know you can’t do it without one of us. This kind of spell takes circle magic.”

Kurt felt betrayed, even if he knew why. “You’re robbing this circle of its only chance.”

“We’re protecting you,” she said, “just like you seem to be so focused on protecting us. Deal with it. We love you and we’re not going to help with this.”

Kurt breathed out some frustration and began to gather up his things. He said, “I need to go, okay? I need to get away from here. To get away from you guys.”

“I’ll go with you,” Sebastian said.

“No!” Kurt hated the look of surprise and hurt on Sebastian’s face when Kurt told him, “I want to be away from all of you. This is important to me, and I get that it’s not going to happen, but I need to deal with that on my own.”

“But the hunters,” Sebastian said.

Kurt shook his head. “I’m going right home. My uncle is there. I’ll be with him. But I need to be alone.” He realized he’d been so sidetracked by his uncle that he hadn’t even thought to ask Sebastian’s mother about why she’d trusted him with the Smythe family book. But he supposed it didn’t matter now. There were more important things.

“I’m sorry,” Sebastian said mournfully.

“I know.” Kurt bent down to where Sebastian was seated and gave him a ghost of a kiss. “I know. I’ll call you.”

He wanted to know so badly. As far as he was concerned, there was no risk too great. Not to find out what had happened to his mother, and why she seemed to be getting the blame. Or why that blame felt appropriately placed.

“You’re upset,” his uncle said when Kurt came through the door. “Want to talk about it?”

“No,” Kurt said gruffly. He stomped up the stairs, feeling childish, and threw himself on his bed. Knight hopped up next to him, licking the back of his hand, but Kurt only pushed his dog away. He settled in for a good sulk and hoped no one bothered him.

Noah bothered him. He knocked on Kurt’s door a couple hours later and said, “Quinn told me what happened.”

“She told you that she and the others shut me down?”

Noah moved into the room and closed the door behind him. “She put it a little more delicately than that, but yeah, she said they said no. That it’s too dangerous.”

Kurt crossed his legs on his bed and leaned back on his hands. “Apparently I don’t get to take risks myself.”

Noah reached down to scratch the back of Knight’s head and pointed out, “You need the circle for this. It’s not like it’s just you. You might be the only person jumping into your uncle’s memories, but anyone who helps you is going to be tethered to you by the magic involved.”

Kurt’s head tipped back to look at the ceiling. “Did you get anywhere with those two siblings who survived?”

“Sort of.” Noah flopped down next to him. “Susan and William Bell. As far as Berry and I can tell, they were a part of our parent’s circle, though just barely. They were recent additions, not core members, so talk about your bad timing to join up. But they’re dead ends. The guy is dead. Has been for about a year now. And the sister, her, she’s up in Canada. We traced her to a tiny speck of a town outside of Montreal. They don’t even have a phone line running up there.”

“Great. So my uncle really was the last shot we had.”

“Other than mister coma, Daniel Freedman? No. And no, we can’t get in to see him even if we wanted to.”

“Even better,” Kurt decided.

Noah stretched out on his back on the bed and looked up at the ceiling as well. “You really think we have a shot at this?”

“I think,” Kurt said decidedly, “that the survival and safety of our circle is tied to knowing what happened to our parents. I think more than that, we deserve to know. You lost both your parents, and everyone else lost at least one. We deserve to know, and if that means I have to risk my safety, then it’s worth it. It’s a no-brainer for me, even if everyone else disagrees.”

Noah confided, “I’d give anything to see my parents one last time. Even if it was just a memory. Even a really bad memory.”

“The same for me with my dad.”

“That,” Noah said, “is why I do not agree with Quinn. She doesn’t speak for the whole circle, and you only need one other person to use our magic.”

Kurt could barely say, “Thank you,” because he felt so choked up. Noah agreeing with him meant everything. “But the spell is in Quinn’s book and there’s no way I’d be able to get to it.”

“What? This book?” Noah reached back to the crease between his jeans and his belt and pulled Quinn’s Book of Shadows free. “This the book you’re talking about?”

Kurt’s eyes were wide as saucers. “Where did … how did …”

“Lifted it right in front of them,” Noah proclaimed proudly.

In astonishment, Kurt breathed out, “Holy shit.”

“I know. Who’s your daddy?”

They found the spell easily enough, but as Kurt’s eyes settled on it, he felt a sense of dread. “It’s in another language.”

“Hebrew,” Noah said easily enough. “Quinn’s grandmother was Jewish before she converted to Catholicism for her husband. Since the magic passes predominantly through the female line in her family, this isn’t surprising.”

Crestfallen, Kurt said, “Then we’re stuck. I don’t speak Hebrew.” The smugness on Noah’s face was almost too much. “But you do?”

“Several years of Seminary school, baby.”

Wanting to be certain, Kurt said, “You can read this? And you’re willing to help me?”

“I can read it.” Noah snatched the book up. “But I don’t just want to be your circle anchor. I want to go in with you.”

“Noah …”

“You get to go in,” Noah said sharply, “and that’s your choice on the matter. It’s also my choice if I want to take the same risk as you. That’s the deal. I’ll help you if you take me in with you.”

Kurt gave him a half smile. “You know, Quinn’s probably completely right, and we’re just being incredibly stupid here. Not to mention that the circle is never going to trust either of us again. And they will feel it if we make a go of this.”

Noah looked overjoyed. “Live dangerously.”

They had everything they needed for the spell already in the house, and there were two missed called from Sebastian on Kurt’s phone by the time Kurt heard his uncle go to bed.

“How close do you think we have to be?” Noah asked, waiting anxiously by Kurt’s door.

“Wait.” Kurt shushed him. He held his hand out for Noah’s, then mumbled a short spell, focusing completely on the way he knew his uncle’s bedroom looked, and how the man liked to sleep on his side, and how tonight was the night that he needed to sleep like the dead.

“What’d you do?”

Kurt released his hand. “I just made sure he’d not going to wake up. So come on, I think we need to be in physical contact with him.”

They had to spread the saucer of water to the east, and dual candles to the north and west of the room, and then draw the symbol in the book with charcoal onto Kurt’s uncle’s head. Noah knelt next to the bed and Kurt sat as close to his uncle as he could manage. He held the book open to Noah, took a deep breath and nodded.

The chill that settled over the room was deafening. With closed eyes Kurt tried to keep his mind clear as his exposed skin at the ankle pressed against his uncle’s foot. He thought of Noah, who’d be coming with him, and of his desire to know the truth. And then, with a quick plea to whatever magic was inside him, he willed the words Noah spoke to ring true.

“Goddamn it’s cold!”

Kurt felt the ocean air push through his hair. His skin was moist, but not really wet, and he was cold. The smell, however, was the most vivid. Everything smelled fishy. Everything made him feel as if he were right there, on the dock that led out to the water, down by Sebastian’s mother’s café.

“It is,” Kurt said. He’d know the smell of the salty sea anywhere.

“Hurry, Evangeline! Grab that rigging, I’m going to push us off!”

Kurt opened his eyes. The ground was moving under him and it was dark.

Noah took his hand and said, “It worked.”

They were standing on the long sail boat that Kurt knew his uncle kept behind the garage, covered in tarp and unused for a decade and a half. He could feel the cold, and the air, and the smell of the ocean was overpowering. Everything felt so real that he lost himself for a minute before he forgot that it was only a memory. He was in his uncle’s head. Seeming real and being real were two different things. He could lose himself in the memory if he didn’t keep to that.

“We have to go now, Burt!”

There was his father. Younger, thinner and even with a pinched expression, happier looking. This was his father when his mother was still alive, without the worry and the fear and the apprehension.

“That’s Sebastian’s mom, right?” Noah asked.

Sebastian looked so much like his mom when she was younger. Kurt could see it now in the way her mouth pulled tight, her brown hair shinning in the moonlight. She moved with an effortless grace and it was nothing but a memory, but the pair of them reeked of magic.

“Your uncle is down below deck.”

Kurt nodded. He couldn’t see down into the hold, but he knew his uncle had to be there. They were in his memories. 

They were pushing off from the dock the boat was housed in. They cut through the water with immense speed, the sails going to full mast and hurrying them along.

“I told you,” Evangeline Smythe said Kurt’s father, “I told you she would do it, Burt.”

His father looked as if he didn’t really believe it. “I told Beth to wait. She said she would. Angie, I can’t believe Beth would lie to me like that.”

Kurt looked to Noah. “He called my mom Beth.”

“He called Sebastian’s mom by a nickname, too,” Noah said. 

Kurt’s father ran a hand through his full head of hair. “She’s just trying to help.”

“No,” Sebastian’s mother cut back, “she’s trying to make things worse. She knows the hunters are never going to agree to her terms. And she’s never going to agree to their’s. This is pointless, and it’s dangerous. There are too many important people out on that boat right now.”

“Hunters,” Noah hissed. “There were hunters on the boat with our parents?”

“Their demands aren’t so bad,” Burt said, sounding tired. “They just want us to stop. No more magic. To repress and deny. I know it’s not what we want, but I could do it. I think I could. I could live as a normal, average person if it meant that Kurt would be safe. I could do anything for Kurt.”

“And Elizabeth doesn’t agree.”

“You know she doesn’t.” Kurt watched his father steer from the helm, straight out into the blackness of the ocean. “Beth has never agreed. She never will and she’s so damn stubborn she’ll fight them to the end.”

“I’m not going to let my son get caught in the crossfire!” Sebastian’s mother was suddenly a force to be reckoned with. “You listen to me, Burt Hummel. There are representatives from the hunter’s council on that boat. There are representatives from our own council as well. They can settle tonight. We can be at peace, and we won’t ever have to worry about our children bearing the brunt of our mistakes. And so help me god, if your wife destroys that chance we have, I will never forgive her, or you, for vouching for her and bringing her into this circle.”

“Angie--”

“I meant it! Before she started sprouting our her propaganda you know the circle was far more in favor of meeting the hunter’s terms. Elizabeth warped their minds. She convinced them to oppose the hunters.”

“She wants every witch, including you, Angie, to have the right to their own magic!” his father thundered. “She’s not wrong. Just because I know I could live without magic, doesn’t mean I think I should have to. She’s fighting for the witches who won’t fight for themselves!”

Noah turned to Kurt with a snap. “Dude, am I hearing this right?”

“She’s starting a war,” the young woman argued. “She’s dividing the circle and she’ll break us over this.”

Burt shook his head, Kurt straining for a better look at him, soaking in the sight. “Elizabeth would give her life for this circle. She’d give her life to protect any witch. You don’t know how the circle is going to vote tonight. Elizabeth isn’t dividing anything.”

“They were calling a truce,” Kurt reasoned out. “The hunters and the witches. There was going to be a truce.”

Sebastian’s mother stood proudly at the aft of the sailboat. “She already divided us.”

Burt’s shoulders drooped. “Angie. You know … Beth and I never meant to hurt you. It just … I’m sorry. I don’t know how many times I have to say it. I’m sorry.”

“I know, Burt. I And I need to let go. It was years ago. But …”

Quietly, his father said, “I wasn’t lying when I told you I thought she would wait. I didn’t think she’d call for the vote tonight. I didn’t know. Our whole circle is supposed to vote. It’s supposed to be fair.”

Kurt looked to Sebastian’s mother for her response, holding his breath as she said, “It doesn’t matter anyway. We cancel each other out in the end with the votes. She knows I’ll vote against her, and Elizabeth knows you’ll support her, even if you know she’s wrong.”

“She’s my wife and I love her. She’s the mother of my child.”

There were tears in her eyes and Kurt felt more sympathy for her than he thought possible. He knew, without doubt, that she was thinking of how it should have been her. She was imagining being his wife and the mother of his child. Something she thought she was destined for.

“I trust her,” Burt said simply, a light in the distance. 

“That’s funny,” Evangeline Smythe said. “Because I never have.”

They heard the screaming before they actually saw anything. Lightening and thunder crackled above head and Kurt had to shout at Noah above the heavy winds to be heard. He called out, “Something is wrong!”

“Maybe it was this storm!” Noah called back, pressing closer to Kurt so he didn’t have to yell so loudly. “Maybe the storm sank the boat!”

“Burt!” Sebastian’s mother cried out, pointing. 

The screams were louder now as rain poured down around them. Visibility fell and no matter how hard Kurt squinted he just couldn’t see anything but a hazy shape.

“I know!” his father said, swinging the ship to the side so they could come up and around. 

The boat wasn’t lit up with electricity. It was fire.

The winds carried them up next to the bigger boat before Kurt realized it, and his father jammed hard on the anchor. Then his father was screaming for his mother and Kurt saw the boat sinking. It was on fire, sinking and there were bodies in the water. His father dove in right after while Sebastian’s mother strapped on a life jacket and wrestled to get the life preserver free from the side. 

“Oh shit,” Noah said. “Oh shit, oh shit.”

The bodies in the water were face down but Kurt could only see his father swimming frantically against the tide to the boat that was already half under.

“Mom!”

That was Noah. Kurt turned towards him in surprise, reaching for Noah as the man went shooting past towards the sinking boat.

“No!” Kurt lunged after him. “Noah, no! It’s not real. It’s a memory.” He latched onto Noah’s soaked shirt, trying to hold him back as Sebastian’s mother tossed the preserver out to Burt. 

“That’s my mom!” Noah fought so wild that Kurt was breathless.

He was pointing, gesturing to a woman hanging over the side of the boat. But she was limp, her face was barely visible and her bright yellow shirt was stained red.

“She’s dead!” Kurt let him go, watching Noah bounce off the nearby railing with a dazed look. He lowed his head until he felt his chin touch his chest. “She’s dead, Noah. Your father is dead, too. They died fifteen years ago. You can’t go save them.”

Noah was crying. He was crying and Kurt felt like doing the same. His father was nothing but a speck of water, dark clothes blending in with the churning sea. It was only the white preserver that stood out, and the way that Sebastian’s mother was dragging a coughing, hysterical woman onto the sailboat to their left. 

The girl was young, and she had to be Susan Bell. Kurt could hear her, pulling at her savior, crying out, “They just started killing everyone! Everyone is dead!”

Kurt curled his hands around the deck railing. His father had another person tethered to the life preserver now. The boat was completely under and some of the bodies were being lost to the waves or the suction or a combination. He couldn’t look away, but it was the most horrible thing he’d ever seen. There were dozens of bodies everywhere and Kurt knew his mother’s was there somewhere.

His uncle must have come up from below deck, because there was more screaming then, but not from the boat. This was behind Kurt and it was such a young voice.

This was how his uncle saw things. This was the memory that had been etched into his brain until Kurt’s father had lifted the burden. 

Kurt had questioned the morality of the decision at the time, but not anymore.

“What’s going on?” Noah’s head was twisting around, and it was then that Kurt realized everything was getting blurry again. They’d lost their focus, and the memory was breaking apart.

“Elizabeth! Elizabeth! Where are you!”

“My dad is calling for my mom,” Kurt said numbly. “He can’t find her.” There was a funeral. There’d be one in a couple of days. But was there a body for the funeral?

“Burt!”

Kurt looked to Sebastian’s mother. His father was calling for his wife. Kurt’s father was calling for Kurt’s mother. But Evangeline Smythe? She wasn’t calling for her husband. She was calling for Burt Hummel. She was worried for him.

“Kurt! Take my hand!” Noah leaned toward him.

Against the rain in his eyes, Kurt reached for the hand extended to him. “The memory!” Kurt shouted. 

“Elizabeth!”

“How do we get out?” Noah’s mouth was pressed against Kurt’s ear just so he could be heard. “I never stopped to check.”

“Concentrate! Think of my house. Try to think only of that!”

Within a second the sea was gone. The wetness and the fear went with it. 

Kurt startled into the real world so violently that he toppled backwards and then off the bed. He crashed to the floor but recovered quickly, breathing hard and calling out, “Are you okay, Noah?”

“I feel sick.”

Kurt felt queasy too. He held a hand to his stomach and climbed to his feet. “That was crazy.”

Noah stood too. “We should never do that again. Ever.”

It had been horrific and terrifying and just nauseating, but now Kurt knew. Now he knew why there had been tension in his parent’s circle. He knew what the boat had sailed out of the harbor for that night, and he absolutely knew that his mother had been right in the thick of it.

A truce. They had been discussing a truce. The circle, and hunters, and some of the witches on the council. Kurt still didn’t know what had gone horribly wrong, there was no memory for that, but something had triggered the fire and the death and the sinking.

“Noah,” Kurt said, feeling shaky. “We need to--”

His uncle burst up out of the bed, eyes open and screaming bloody murder. Kurt screamed too.


	17. Chapter 17

A firm hand cuffed him over the back of the head and Kurt leaned away from the aggressive motion with a shout. “Hey! Watch it!”

“I will not,” Quinn fumed. “You stupid, stupid boy.”

Kurt moved even further from her. “I’m not going to apologize.”

“Of course you’re not.”

They were standing in front of the lighthouse, the weather pleasant for once. They were still waiting on both Rachel and Noah to show, and apparently, in Kurt’s opinion, that gave the rest of his circle the right to berate and physically abuse him.

“I’m not,” Kurt ground out. “I understand why you’re upset, okay? I understood the risks before, and I knew what kind of ripple effect it could have on the whole circle if something went wrong. But I stand by my actions and the reasoning behind them.”

Sebastian seemed muted, or conflicted as he told Kurt, “You should have called me. Or answered my call. I should have been there.”

Kurt shook his head. “You agreed with the others. I’m not upset over that. We’re allowed to have separate opinions. Noah was there because he wanted to know what I did. He made his choice, the same as I made mine. It’s different, and I’m glad you weren’t there. It was …” Horrible.

“Kurt?”

“Chaotic,” Kurt described. “There was a storm raging, and I could tell it was magic fueled. And there was a fire, and so much screaming and when the boat started to sink there were people in the water. They weren’t … they weren’t alive.”

“But you saw my mom? She was there?” Sebastian asked anxiously.

“I saw her.” Kurt rubbed a hand across his forehead. “She and my dad got there too late, though. They saved who they could. They did their best.”

“I want to know everything,” Quinn demanded. “The second the others get here you are going to sit down and tell us everything.”

Kurt thought about his uncle, how the man had woken from the shared memory screaming and confused and almost delirious. He’d stumbled his way past Kurt to the bathroom where he’d slammed the door and hadn’t come out for over an hour. After, when Noah had gone home and Kurt had been brave enough, he’d approached his uncle to find him still shaken, but seemingly oblivious of anything that had happened. Kurt wasn’t sure if that was a miracle or not.

“He never found her,” Kurt said.

“Huh?” Sebastian’s head cocked.

“My mom,” Kurt mumbled. “He started pulling people out of the water. The ones who were still alive. Your mom was reeling them in with the life preserver. And my dad was searching for my mom. He was frantic. But he never found her. They must have buried an empty casket. He never found her.”

Sebastian looped an arm around Kurt’s shoulders and they sagged together. “They never found my dad, either. That’s why I hate it. I hate going out on the water. I hate even being so close to it with the café.”

Blaine looked up from the magic book he’d been looking through at the sound of a car engine. “There’s Rachel,” he said. “And I think she has Puck with her.”

“I’m going to tell you everything,” Kurt vowed. 

Because everything had changed.

The first thing Kurt said, when they were all together, seated on the floor in a circle with a heavy rug cushioning them, was, “There was a truce. Or the beginnings of one. Cooper told me once that things between the witches and the hunters hadn’t always been this bad. In fact, they’d been good. Hunters and witches used to work together to keep the balance in nature and protect the norms. But then things started to change and we ended up with this. But I think my dad’s circle was trying to fix that.”

“They didn’t all agree, though,” Noah butted in.

There were only confused looks staring back at Kurt. So he said, “Let me start over.” He cleared his throat. “I heard my dad and Evangeline Smythe talking in my uncle’s memory. I’m pretty sure that the hunter’s council and the witches’ council were reaching out to each other. They wanted peace and since this place has always been a local hotpot for magic, I’m not surprised our parents were right in the middle of it.”

“What were the conditions of this truce?” Rachel asked.

Kurt said, “They wanted us to stop practicing. By us I mean our parents, of course. My dad told Sebastian’s mom that for peace, he could stop being a witch and never so much as think about magic again. He could do that to keep me safe, and I think a lot of the other members of the circle thought it was a fair compromise.”

“Not everyone, obviously,” Noah ground out.

“I’d never give up my magic,” Quinn said, shoulders squared. “Never. Not even for peace.”

“I guess it’s different when you’re a parent,” Blaine said. He gave a soft smile. “If I had a kid, I’d do whatever it took to keep them safe. Even give up my magic, and I think that’s the most important part of me.”

Trying not to sound aggravated, Kurt said, “I pretty sure my mom was on board with the, over my dead body I’ll give up my magic, team.”

Noah nodded. “Sebastian’s mom really seemed to hate her for that.”

“My mom, I guess, was convincing other members of the circle to go against the idea of settling with the hunters. She split the circle. She divided it, and I’m assuming she was very influential to be able to do that.”

“Are you saying it’s your mom’s fault?” Sebastian asked with a frown. “For the accident?”

“I don’t know about that,” Kurt rushed to say. “I only know what I heard from my dad, and from your mom. I know that there was going to be a vote. They were going to put the idea to the vote, and the hunters probably would have gone away if the vote had passed. Or they would have gone to war if it hadn’t. I’m sure my mom gave my dad her word that she was putting the vote off. He believed her, but then she called for it anyway when he wasn’t there. I know she did it on purpose.”

“Sebastian’s mom certainly thought so,” Noah said.

“So there was a vote,” Quinn reiterated. “What else?”

Kurt shared a look with Sebastian. “Neither one of our parents knew what was happening, and neither did my uncle, so Noah and I couldn’t find that part out. We got there too late. There was some kind of fight. People were already dead. Maybe the vote went badly.”

Voice thick, Noah said, “I saw my mom.”

Blaine’s eyes were almost shining. “You saw your parents?” It was envy, Kurt recognized. Blaine was envious. 

“I saw my mom dead,” Noah said flatly.

“I think,” Kurt said, laying a hand over Noah’s, “That it’s safe to say something went wrong. Hunters and witches are a volatile mix. Maybe my mom had enough votes to swing the circle away from the hunters. Maybe the war started early. All Noah and I saw was the aftermath. But at least it explains the way things are now.”

Confused, Rachel wondered, “How?”

“Because there were important people there,” Noah told her seriously. “Elders and councilmen from both sides. Not just our parents. This was the real deal. Some serious shit. Legal and binding. Whatever you want to call it. They were there and I’m going to just stab wildly in the dark here and guess that the witches here thought that the hunters attacked first. And the hunters that weren’t on the boat at the time, thought that the witches did it. Presto, there’s your war regardless of the vote.”

“That’s total speculation,” Rachel protested.

From the doorway, Cooper said, “It’s not. It’s exactly what they thought.”

Kurt got to his feet as Blaine scrambled to his brother’s side. “You’re back.”

“I had to come back.” There was a dark, angry looking cut down the side of Cooper’s neck, and he had bruised knuckles. Kurt wasn’t sure if anyone else noticed, but Kurt was certain he’d been in a fight of some kind. “Now that I know more.”

“Is it true?” Blaine asked. “What Kurt and Puck said?”

Cooper nodded and made his way to them. “Yes. The witches thought the hunters did it and the hunters thought the witches did it. The hunter’s council prepared to go to war and simply put, there were more of them than there were of us. Hunters are trained. They’re made. We’re … we have to be born into a bloodline. There are unnatural witches out there, and anyone can steal magic. Even a norm. But there are less of us than you might imagine. We didn’t have the numbers.”

“So what happened?” Sebastian pressed. His hand had found its way to Kurt’s knee where it rested tensely. “Was there a fight?”

“There isn’t much of a council now,” Cooper said sadly. “Most of the witches are dead, for various reasons. But back then they were strong. The elders were wise, too. They knew we’d lose, even with our magic, if we fought. So they took the blame. They always thought the hunters had killed our parents deliberately to spark a confrontation, but they still took the blame to keep the peace. And then, as a final act of withdrawal, they took magic from everyone involved, and almost everyone associated or related to the circle. They blamed the circle, shunned them, stripped them of their magic and then tried to stay quite and look unthreatening. They put their tails between their legs and bowed out like it was nothing to be ashamed of.”

“That’s horrible,” Rachel wailed.

Quinn put her face in her hands. “Our parents just let them do that?”

“What could they do?” Cooper demanded. “Your parents, the ones who were left, didn’t have reason to believe the council of elders were lying to them. The ones who survived weren’t out on that boat for various reasons, and they didn’t know the truth any more than the council. Plus, they had children to think about. Children with magic.”

Noah frowned. “Why didn’t they take our magic, too? They took our parent’s magic.”

“You can’t take magic until a witch reaches maturity. It doesn’t work. Magic protects the child, just as much as the child protects the magic. Neither is vulnerable until maturity, which is around fifteen. They couldn’t even if they wanted to, but I bet they did. Our parents laid down and played dead to protect their bloodline. They would have made us do the same if given the opportunity.”

Kurt felt the even bigger questions hanging in the air, and he was the one brave enough to ask, “The council is coming here, right?”

Cooper nodded. “They’ve had an eye on the circle since you bound yourselves to each other. They needed to have cause to take magic and you never gave them any, but they did watch you. But yes, they’re coming here for the full moon next month. That’s on the sixth. They’ll be here in force, with the hunters and their council, and that’s nothing to be overlooked or understated.”

Distracted, Blaine wanted to know, “But you’re sure they can’t take our magic?”

“I don’t think they would now,” Cooper said. “I’m not sure if they could. Maybe if you hadn’t bound your circle. They could only take the magic that belonged to your parents because their circle was broken. Yours isn’t. The point is, they can’t afford to right now.”

Kurt agreed. “Our numbers are even smaller now than they were back then.”

“Exactly.”

Kurt looked down to the where Sebastian was touching him, and he thought of the way he’d seen his father act on that boat, selfless and brave and completely focused on his mother. Smythe and Hummel were written in the stars, destined to be, and yet his father had loved his mother. He’d cared for Sebastian’s mother, but he’d loved Elizabeth Hummel.

A suspicious note to Sebastian’s voice, he asked Cooper, “You know what happened on that boat fifteen years ago, don’t you? You know. Look at him, guys. He knows something huge. We know what happened before and after, but you know what happened during. I can tell.”

“You said you didn’t,” Kurt argued. “Were you lying?”

Cooper promised, “I wasn’t lying. When I came to you that first time, Kurt, and every time after that, I didn’t know. Not until I talked to Constance Spector. I didn’t know until four days ago.”

“Constance Spector?” Kurt asked. “Who’s she?”

Cooper grimaced. “Your mother’s half sister, Kurt. She’s not in the Murdock bloodline. That’s why she lived. She and your mother shared a father, but nothing else, and your mother inherited her legacy from her mother’s side. I’m not even sure anyone knew about Constance until the last few years of your mother’s life.”

“But you talked to her?” Kurt leaned forward. That was amazing. He’d never dreamed, not since learning about the fire, that he’d ever have a living, breathing connection to his mother. Not after the hunters had systematically wiped them all out. 

“How’s she important?” Sebastian demanded.

Before he would say anything Cooper made them all swear a promise that they would never tell anyone the truth of what he planned to say. They each had to swear a blood oath to him, even Blaine and even Kurt, and only then did he say darkly, “It was your mother, Kurt. She tried to swing the circle to her side. She tried to make them vote against the truce, and she even convinced a good deal of the witch elders to back her policy of non-compromise. But in the end there just weren’t enough votes for her, which is why she tried to outmaneuver your father and the others who’d vote against her from being there for it. Your mother knew she’d lose before she even went out on that boat, which is why she lied to your father and said she would agree to put off the vote. She told that lie to anyone she thought would oppose her.”

Sebastian scoffed. “They just believed her?”

Cooper gave him a steely look. “Your circle is your family. You believe them when they say something. You believe the people you love.”

There was fear and dread in Kurt. “What did my mother do?”

“Your Aunt Constance,” Cooper said, “she’d not a Murdock, but she’s a full witch just like you are. Two bloodlines feed into her magic, and she was, when your mother started talking to her frequently, an avid participant of the darker kind of magic. Constance used her magic for all the things we’ve been taught not to, and she influenced your mother in a lot of ways to make the choices that she did. Constance opened avenues of options that Elizabeth couldn’t have known on her own.”

Kurt was so impatient. “Spit out already!”

“Constance didn’t just practice dark magic. She was a master of it. And Elizabeth was a natural. So when your mother, Kurt, was looking for a way to edge out the competition, Constance gave it to her. Constance showed her how to access the one part of dark magic that should never be done. Not even spoken of or thought of .I mean it. It’s the ultimate taboo. The worst thing that could ever be done, and the most unforgivable.”

“What was it?”

Looking uncommonly sympathy, Cooper told Kurt, “She showed your mother how to summon demons.”

Blaine looked like he might topple over and pass out at any second, while Rachel looked on in shock, an expression mirrored by everyone else.

Flatly, Kurt inquired, “My mother summoned demons?”

“Yes.” Cooper said. “This what Constance told me four days ago as she bled out from a hunter attack, one hundred miles from here. Constance showed her how to use the dark magic in her blood to summon the demons.”

“They’re real,” Blaine said faintly, looking to Kurt. “They are.”

Cooper cleared his throat. “Demons need a host. At least the lesser ones do. The lesser demons are the only kind that can be summoned by a witch.” Cooper’s fingers were locked together in what looked like a concentrated prayer. Demons were real, and Kurt wondered if Cooper was praying. “Constance helped Elizabeth broker a deal with them. They needed hosts and as long as they agreed to honor their side of the deal, she was willing to allow them access to all of the hunters there that day.”

“Why?” Kurt asked, feeling flushed. “Why would she need the demons? What was her plan?”

Cooper said simply, “To amended the agreement. Her plan was to give the demons host bodies of the hunters. Then, being controlled, the hunters would sign the truce agreement with the amendment that the witches could keep their powers and the hunters would still agree to pull out. Your mom would look like a saint, Kurt, and she was willing to bend morality and right and wrong to do it. She was desperate and she didn’t care if it meant losing a part of herself.”

“Oh, god,” Quinn breathed out, sounding panicked. “Oh, god.”

Cooper said quietly to Kurt, “Your mother thought the same as your father in the respect that she would have done anything to keep you safe. Your father would have given up his magic to ensure your safety. Your mother believed she had to keep hers, for you to be safe.”

“We’re talking about demons,” Blaine said loathingly. “You don’t expect us to believe they kept their word.”

The expression on Cooper’s face was open and telling. “Of course not. They’re demons. Constance told your mother that she could control them until the agreement had been sealed because that’s what the demons wanted Constance to believe. Demons are nothing but liars. It goes against what they are to tell the truth. And everyone paid for that. Your mother couldn’t have controlled them, Kurt. She would have realized that as quickly as it took to summon them. It’s my belief that some of the demons found their way into the circle members, and the council of both sides. The demons started the fight, because they had the most to gain from the witches and the hunters not being on good terms.”

“I get it,” Sebastian said, squeezing Kurt’s knee. “If you have witches and hunters going for each other’s throats, who’s there to look at the demons?”

Shakily, Quinn wanted to know, “What happened to the demons?”

The only relief came when Cooper told them, “They drowned. Just like everyone else. You can only kill a lesser demon by drowning or burning them. It’s possible someone sank the boat on purpose once they realized the demons were loose. Maybe your mother, Kurt. Only she would have known the way to get rid of them.”

“Why?” Kurt felt the shivers wrack his body, driving him to press against Sebastian who thankfully would still have him. Kurt wouldn’t have been surprised if Sebastian wanted nothing to do with him. But the teen only pulled him close, put his arm around Kurt and stroked the skin at the back of his hand.

Cooper didn’t want to say. He was fighting back the words. But eventually he said, “For the same reason that the guard wiped her bloodline out, save for you, Kurt. For the reason that witches crave your magic and hunters want to kill you, and the world will always be against you no matter how you live your life. Because … because only dark magic can summon demons. Only dark magic can pull them up from hell. You could do it, Kurt, if you wanted to, and that’s a power that a lot of people will kill you over.”

“He’s in shock,” Sebastian said.

“He just found out his mother is responsible for killing dozens of people! Of course he’s in shock,” Quinn said.

Noah added, “And that he’s the dog whisperer of demons.”

Oh. He’d zoned out. Kurt blinked furiously for a few minutes before he recognized that he was laying down on the couch by the herb garden that they kept in the corner, powered by expensive sunlamps.

“Keep an eye on him,” Cooper said, almost like he wanted them to swear that, too.

“Cooper,” Blaine said, “that’s why the witches and the hunters are converging on this spot right now, isn’t it? There’s going to be another meeting. Another try at the truce.”

“I don’t know for sure,” Cooper said honestly. “But I think so. And if anything goes wrong this time, there isn’t going to be any coming back from it. There aren’t enough elders on either side for us to try this again in fifteen years.”

Kurt sat up slowly. No one was paying any attention to him. It seemed a good thing. So while they talked in hushed voices, he was able to cross the room to the metal, spiral staircase that led up to the half loft. All of his books were up there. The ones that his father had had in storage. Kurt had always assumed they were his father’s, but maybe his father had just been saving them for his mother. His mother had reason to have books on demons.

Quinn’s voice drifted up, “Isn’t there someone we can tell? Someone who’ll believe this?”

“I heard this from a dying dark witch,” Cooper said.

Kurt pushed the books around, looking for the one on demons. 

The door downstairs creaked open and Cooper said, “I need to go. I have to find out for sure what’s happening on the full moon. That’s two weeks away. We don’t have much time.”

“Will you tell us when you know?” Quinn asked.

Kurt could hear his promise to return.

There it was. The oversized, leather bound book was at the bottom of the pile to his right, and it stared up at him in a taunting way.

“One last thing,” Cooper said in a hushed voice.

Sebastian declared, “I won’t let anyone hurt him!”

“Not that.”

Kurt cracked the book open. 

“Then what?”

There was an inscription page, a declaration of ownership of the book. Kurt felt the magic stir in him, bubbling up as he turned the pages. Only a Murdock was to own the book. Only a Murdock was to know about it. This was his legacy, no matter how horrible, and there was an overwhelming urge to protect it. Had his mother felt this way?

Cooper said, voice hoarse, “Constance and Elizabeth summoned the demons together. They summoned twelve of them and they were connected to each demon by their dark magic. When that boat sank eleven of those demons died with everyone else. One didn’t. Constance swore that to me. There’s one still out there, and if it had a link to Elizabeth through her magic, it also has one to Kurt now.”

“Kurt?”

Kurt turned to see Quinn standing at the top of the loft. “Hey,” he returned. It would do no good to try and hide the book now. 

“What’re you doing?”

Kurt looked down at the pages of the demon book, to lines of spells and rituals and information written in an elegant script that was likely hundreds of years old. “Nothing.”

“Are you okay?” She moved closer and he held his breath. She’d see the book and she’d think he was evil. She’d think he was his mother. “Kurt … why are you looking at a blank book?”

Kurt looked from her to the book. She couldn’t see? The book was open for her to see, but all she saw were blank pages?

“Sorry.” Kurt closed the book gently. “I just … I don’t know what I’m doing.”

Quinn knelt down next to him. “I know this is a lot to take in. But we always knew the answers would be harder than the questions, and the questions were always pretty hard.”

“My mom …” 

“Did,” Quinn cut in, “what she thought she had to. To protect you. To protect herself. And to protect her magic. I’m not condoning or disagreeing with what she did. I couldn’t put myself in her shoes if I tried. The point is, she made her choices, Kurt, and we’re living with the consequences. But we get to make our own choices, too. You’re not your mother, Kurt. You’re not going to raise up a bunch of demons to force someone’s hand. You’re not that person.”

Kurt didn’t know that. He didn’t know anything anymore. 

She held out her hand. “Come back downstairs with me. Cooper’s gone for the night.”

“Kurt?” Sebastian’s voice called up to him. “What’s going on?”

Kurt followed Quinn down the stairs and allowed himself to be hugged by Sebastian. His boyfriend told him, “We don’t judge you based on what your mother did, and we’re not angry or scared, either.”

Kurt pressed his face into Sebastian’s neck and could feel the others watching him. “Okay.”

For so long he’d wanted answers. He’d thought knowing would clear things up for him, but if anything, his thoughts had only gotten more muddled. He felt like he didn’t know himself anymore, and he certainly didn’t like what he was capable of. Answers weren’t enough. He knew that now. Answers were just the beginning.

He had to understand himself first, and understanding himself started with understanding his mother. She was gone, but he had to try. And he knew where to start.

241 Cyprus Hill.

When he’d first learned of the fire, and what Cyprus Hill was, he’d made a promise to his uncle. He’d given his word that he wouldn’t go up there, and Kurt hated to break it. But he didn’t think he had a choice. He didn’t know if there were any answers hidden in the burn rubble, but he had to see for himself. He had to go.

And maybe, if he was really lucky, no one but himself would know.

“Woah. Slow down. Where’re you going?”

Kurt was three steps down his front porch a few days later, jacket buttoned up to his neck, when Sebastian came into view. Kurt halted. This was the one and only time he didn’t want to see Sebastian, who was always too nosey for his own good.

“Just out,” Kurt said, trying to sound normal. “I have to run down to the store. My uncle needs a few things. That’s all. You should have called and let me know you were coming over. You wasted a whole trip.”

Not put off, Sebastian said, “No biggie. How about I come with you to the store. The grocery store? I could pick up a few things for my house, too.”

“The hardwood store,” Kurt corrected. 

“Kurt.”

Kurt hid his hands deep in his pockets and admitted, “You’ll want to stop me. Or tell my uncle. Something.”

Sebastian lifted an eyebrow. “You don’t know that for sure until you tell me where you’re really going.”

“241 Cyprus Hill,” Kurt told him. “That’s where I’m going.”

Sebastian asked, “Am I supposed to know where that is? Is it important?”

“To me.” Kurt wondered exactly how much of the house was left. His uncle said not much, and that it structurally wasn’t safe, but maybe he’d just said that to keep Kurt from going down there. Who knew? “It’s where my mother lived before her family died. It’s her old house.”

“And why are you going there?”

Kurt’s shoulders fell a little. “Actually, I’m not completely sure. To see if I can find something? To connect with her? I don’t know, Sebastian. I just feel like I have to go. I need to be there, and today.”

“Why didn’t you tell me right off the bat?” Sebastian asked, upset. “That’s not something to hide.”

Kurt looked back to his house. “I’m breaking my promise to my uncle. He made me swear that I’d never go up there. He said it isn’t safe, but really, I think he’s just sacred of the place. Hunters overran it and burned my mother’s family to ashes. That’s a really scary thought.”

After a minute, Sebastian asked, “You need a ride?”

Kurt kissed him.

It took a while to get there, cutting through a part of town that Sebastian said he hardly ever went, and Kurt had never been before. And then, when they were at the far end of town, and the side streets ended, and there was just one long, menacing looking dead end, he saw the house.

It certainly wasn’t burned to the ground. There was no doubt about that. There was extensive fire damage, and the whole left side of the house had been burnt away to the foundation. But there was a section towards the back that was still standing. The second floor hadn’t collapsed onto the first, and the paint was charred, but it was still possible to make out the white that had been there before. At least that part of the house looked safe.

“Creepy,” Sebastian whistled out.

“Come on.” Kurt pressed on, sliding out of Sebastian’s car. “I want to see if we can get in there. I have to know. I have to see.”

They were able to go in through the section of the house that wasn’t there anymore. Then it was a careful hike through twisted floorboards and leaning walls.

It must have been a gorgeous house. It was easily the biggest house Kurt has seen in town so far, and it beat out the houses of all of the people on the city council. It had probably looked like a mansion before the accident. That alone made the idea of what the house was now, even more sad.

“So,” Sebastian surmised, “You don’t know why you’re here. You don’t know what you’re looking for. You don’t know--”

There was a woman. And honestly, at first, Kurt had thought she was a ghost. She was standing by one of the old burned out fireplaces, something hugged to her chest and shielded from view, and turned away from them so that only her jet black hair was visible.

“Excuse me?” Kurt called out. “I don’t think you should be here.”

She turned, her profile coming into view. “I’m right where I need to be, Kurt. And so are you.”

Cooper had said not to trust anyone, and Kurt could only think of the nice woman from before who’d eventually tried to burn him alive with a bunch of hunters.

“What are you doing here?” Sebastian asked, stepping forward to block Kurt in the slightest from the woman. “This is his mother’s old house.”

“You’re very protective,” she observed. “That is an important quality when exercised in moderation.”

Kurt pushed past. “I don’t need him to fight my battles for me, if that’s what you’re wondering. But we look out for each other, and we’d really appreciate it if you’d answer the question. What are you doing here?”

“Don’t you want to know how I knew your name?”

Kurt waved off, “Everyone seems to know my name here. They all know I’m a Hummel. They all knew either my mother or my father.”

Her head dipped in agreement. “This is true. But few of them can claim to have held you as an infant.”

“The last woman who tried to kill me was my babysitter.”

She introduced, “My name is Cassandra Cartwright, and I’m your godmother, Kurt.”

Kurt froze, mouth going dry. “My godmother?”

“Of course.” The woman, Cassandra, said. “Your chosen partner wears the protection gem that I procured for your father. Both of your parents trusted me, and they came to me for both circle matters, and other things.”

Sebastian looked down at his chest, to where the round piece of malachite hung. “You made it?”

“I obtained it.”

“Then …” Kurt started, but he wasn’t sure what to say. Not really.

She said instead, “Your mother was one of my dearest friends. She trusted me with your life more than any other, save your father. I was there, the day you were born. I held you in my arms while your father tended to your mother. She had a home birth, you know. Her circle was there and she was surrounded by their power as she gave birth to you. But it was me that your father gave you to. They’d named me godmother before you were born.”

With uncertainty, Sebastian asked, “Were you part of the circle?”

“No.” She said simply. “I’m not a witch.”

“Then what are you?”

The woman smiled a bit. “I was your circle’s advisor. Their psychic. I led them along as I could.”

“Psychic,” Kurt said, not really believing her. “You’re a psychic?”

“You find this hard to believe?” She was amused. “You’ve got your own, you know?”

Kurt asked, “What? We have what?”

And Sebastian demanded, “Are circles supposed to have psychics?”

The glee on her face spread and she stated, “You don’t know about your psychic. Not yet. This very interesting.”

Kurt shared a confused looked with Sebastian.

She continued, “Don’t worry about that, then. And as for your question, Mr. Smythe, no, circles are not supposed to have psychics. Typically if psychics are drawn to a circle, it’s for its power, especially if the circle is bound, though it’s not necessary. But most circles will never encounter a psychic, or have one pledge their loyalty. And you look very much like your father.”

Sebastian went pale.

“So you’re a psychic,” Kurt said, advancing on her. “You see the future? You know things before they happen?” When she nodded, he almost exploded, demanding, “Then why didn’t you warn them? Whey didn’t you stop the accident from happening? You could have saved so many lives!”

Gently she said, “That’s not how it works, Kurt. I don’t get to choose my visions, nor their subject matter. I can only see and interpret what I’m given, and I was never your father’s circle’s advisor because I had premonitions of them. In fact, in the almost four years I knew your mother, Kurt, I only had a single vision of her, and none of your father. None of the other circle members, either.”

“What kind of psychic are you?” Sebastian scoffed. “Shouldn’t you be able to move things with your mind? Something cool?”

“That’s telekinesis,” she said dully.

“You didn’t have visions of them,” Kurt said. “Who did you have visions of?”

He hated the was she looked at him before she said, “You, Kurt.”

Sebastian made a face as Kurt asked, “Me?”

She nodded. “I dreamed of you before you were born. Before your father even met your mother. I was dreaming of a pale, bright eyed little boy with an uncommon sense of selflessness before I was even out of my childhood years. Then I met your mother and I realized it was her son, the one who hadn’t been born yet, that I was getting to know in my dreams. I chose to stay with her circle, and help them where I could, because of you. This is how I knew you would be here today, Kurt. I’ve already seen it happen. The question is, are you going to believe me?”

Kurt let his shoulder push against Sebastian’s for a familiar anchoring weight and he tried not to sag. “Tell me about her?”

“Later,” she promised. “Later I will tell you how Elizabeth could never make up her mind about anything, not until the last second when she fully committed. I’ll tell you that she was just as selfless as your father and why. I’ll share her best moments, and her worst. But for now, we have other business to attend to.”

She held out her arms and finally Kurt could make out the item she’d had hugged to her chest. It was a book.

“Was it my mother’s?” Kurt asked, already knowing the truth.

“It was.” She handed it off to Kurt without hesitation. “She knew she would die soon, Kurt. She knew she would die for her cause.”

“Die for her cause?” It was Sebastian who moved forward then, angry. “She unleashed demons! Demons! That is the worst sin a witch can commit and she did it. And for what? To make people vote her way?”

“I never agreed with her actions.”

“But you knew about them,” Sebastian guessed. “You knew what she planned to do that night with her half-sister.”

Cassandra nodded. “I knew. And it wasn’t my place to stop her.” She turned from Sebastian to Kurt. “Your mother was a visionary among the people who supported her. Your father urged patience and tolerance and compromise. Your mother wasn’t willing to have any of that. She believed that witches are born with their magic. That it was their birthright, and no hunter has the authority to dictate that magic. Witches called her a purist, and she had more support than you’d think.”

Kurt looked down at the book in his hands. “This is the Mason Book of Shadows, right? The Murdock book?”

“It’s the last copy I know that survived the purging by the hunters. When I told Elizabeth that one day her son would come here, looking for answers, she gave the book to me for safe keeping. I’ve held it this entire time, waiting. It’s yours.”

“Kurt,” Sebastian said quietly, and Kurt knew what he wanted to say. He knew Sebastian was wary of anything Murdock related, just like the rest of the circle. 

Kurt ignored him and asked Cassandra, “Did my mother really summon demons to swing her vote?

“Yes.”

“And what was the plan after? She was just willing to overlook a couple of demons wandering around with new meat suits?”

Cassandra’s mouth pulled tight. “Your mother told me something a long time ago, Kurt. Something that’s stayed with me since. She told me that in war, the hard choices have to be made. You sacrifice the few to save the many. And you weight lives out like they aren’t that, because it’s the only way you can live with yourself.” She grimaced. “Your mother didn’t do what she did lightly. She understood that she was giving up a part of her soul, a part of what made your dad love her, to do it. But she had to, because she couldn’t imagine her son living in a world where he wasn’t free to be exactly what he was. So even if it wasn’t safe, she wanted you to be free. She saw that as being more important.”

There was a whole new sense of respect Kurt had for his mother, and that was refreshing. He couldn’t agree with her, but he understood. He also imagined that’s what his father felt when he found out the truth.

Shaking himself out of his thoughts, Kurt said, “Can I ask you about demons?”

“Do not make your mother’s mistakes,” she warned suddenly. “I know you’re still looking for more answers, but if you listen to nothing I say tonight except for this, please, demons are vile creatures. They kill and lie and abuse. It’s what they are. Pure evil. Your mother thought she could control them and she couldn’t. Do not go near them, Kurt. If you ever encounter one in your life you should go the opposite direction. Demons hold all the truths, but they’ll never say them. They have no answers for you.”

“Can you make them tell the truth?” Kurt asked. “With magic?”

“I don’t know,” she said honestly. “Maybe your mother’s book holds the answer to that question. I don’t.”

After a quick, shared look with Sebastian, Kurt said, “There were twelve demons summoned that night. Someone I trust told me that eleven of them died. But one survived. Is that true? Is there a demon out there? Running free because of my mother?”

“There are many demons in the living world, Kurt. Lesser and greater demons.”

“Answer the question,” Sebastian prompted gruffly.

The woman hesitated, and when Kurt pleaded with her, she asked, “Do you remember I said I dreamed once and only once of your mother?” Kurt nodded. “Let me tell you what I saw.”

Kurt wasn’t sure to expect, he only nodded solemnly and said, “Please.”

She told him, “I saw your mother's final act. The boat that sunk, it had a dingy. There was chaos, and witch turned on hunter, as hunter turned on witch, just as the demons had expected. But your mother, Kurt, she knew she had to stop them. She burned some and she drowned others, but she miscounted. In the ensuing confusion, she miscounted and destroyed eleven, not twelve. She didn’t realize this mistake until the boat was sinking and the unaccounted demon, burrowed deep inside a young witches’ body, was already in the dingy and nearly away.”

“So she tried to make it right,” Kurt breathed out. His mother had tried to fix things. It didn’t excuse her actions in the first place, but it mattered to him.

“So Kurt’s mom knew?” Sebastian asked, confused. “About your vision?”

“No,” she told him succinctly. “I never told her what my vision was. She knew it was of her, but she asked me not to say anything about it. She never wanted to know about my visions, so long as Kurt was safe in them. She feared the repercussions of knowing visions mean for me. Boys, there is a fine line psychics must walk, between the knowledge they’re given, and the knowledge they share. You mother was right not to ask.”

Kurt settled for a moment, then asked, “What happened next?”

Cassandra said seriously, “Only the strongest witches can kill demons. Killing a demon is incredibly difficult, especially if they have a host. Once they take over their host they’re privy to all of the secrets contained in that mind, all of the training and all of the power. It can’t be unstated enough of how incredible it was that your mother defeated eleven of them, eleven demons accessing magic and hunter training.”

“What did she do about the twelfth?” Kurt asked leaning forward. “That demon got away, right?”

She shook her head. “Your mother was drained. Depleted. Even witches can’t use their magic continuously without needing to take a break. So when she found the twelfth she didn’t have the energy to kill the demon and save the host. So she did the next best thing. She locked the demon in, shut it down, and put the witch host to sleep. She meant to go back at a later time. She meant to fix what she had done, but as you know …”

“Wait.” Kurt felt awe settle over him. “Sebastian, there were three survivors that night! Three. And one of them was comatose. He’s never woken.”

Cassandra said, “You know where the twelfth demon is, Kurt. You’ve always known.”

It was Daniel Freedman. It was the third survivor who everyone said hadn’t moved or said a word since the accident. He had a demon in him, Kurt realized, and he was the witch his mother had meant to go back and save later.

“Wow,” Sebastian said. “That’s crazy.”

“I need to go now.” Cassandra stood, looking unsteady on her feet and tired.

“Wait!” Kurt reached out for her. “You said you’d tell me about my mother.”

She hesitated, then relented, “Alright.” Then she answered his questions.

The sun was going down by the time Kurt was satisfied enough to let his godmother waltz out. He asked her, “Am I going to see you again?”

She looked sad and had no answer for him. Which was an answer in itself, he guessed. 

Instead, she said, “I’m glad I got to see you, Kurt. You’re strong like your mother, and brave like your father. Both would be proud.”

Kurt took a long breath, thanked her, and let her go.

“Are you okay?” Sebastian asked, tucking back some of Kurt’s hair gently.

“No,” Kurt said, because how could he be? “But I’ll get there.” He wanted to look around after that. There wasn’t much left, walls were knocked out and everything was blackened, but he still wanted to look.

“Your uncle was right, you know,” Sebastian said, following after him. “When he said this place wasn’t very structurally secure. It looks like the roof is going to come down on us at an second. I’d prefer that we’re not standing under it when that happens.”

Kurt ran his hand along the stairwell banister. He wanted to go up, but he didn’t trust the wood not to give out. Not with how damaged it was. “We can go.” He had to admit defeat. “But I don’t think my uncle wanted me to stay away just to be safe. I think my mom really hurt my dad. He loved her no matter what, but she still hurt him, and my uncle knew that. He never wanted to say it, but he knew it. He didn’t want me here because he wanted to keep me away from that hurt. The dead can still hurt the living. I know that for certain.”

Sebastian kissed the back of Kurt’s head and tugged him away from the stairs. “Come on. I’ll take you home. It’s getting cold.”

“Sebastian?” Kurt asked as they drove back to town. “I need to ask you a favor.”

“Anything,” Sebastian shrugged.

“Don’t tell the others?” Sebastian turned his eyes from the road to give Kurt a concentrated look. Kurt said, “I know they already look at me weird. They feel sorry for me, and can’t wholly trust me, and I don’t want them to know about this. This is my mother’s mistake. It’s her wrong, and I don’t want them to be in a place to judge her for it.”

“But that’s it,” Sebastian said quietly, “they’d think things about her. Not about you. They wouldn’t pass that judgment onto you. They know you’d never do anything like your mom did.”

Wouldn’t he? Kurt hadn’t thought he’d rip people to shreds with his magic on two separate occasions, either.

“Can you just promise me?” Kurt asked.

Sebastian nodded. “You know I won’t say anything if you don’t want me to. But I mean what I said. We love you and you think we don’t trust you, but it’s more that we don’t trust you won’t get taking in by something. Fooled or misled or tricked. We never want to see anything happen to you and we’re talking about demons. We should not be messing with demons.”

Kurt hummed a reply and leaned his head on the glass window. His mother’s book was folded into his lap, Kurt hunched over it a bit. There was nothing more to say.

Sebastian dropped him off with a promise to see him the next day at school. “I love you,” Kurt said as he kissed him, meaning every word of it. Then he slid out of the car and jogged the steps up to his house.

He had dinner with his uncle, who was too quiet and too distant for comfort, then worked on homework. After he headed up to bed instead of watching TV with his uncle downstairs. He hated the sudden tension between them. 

“You’re lucky I don’t kick you out,” Kurt told Knight as he turned the lock on his door and glanced at the dog. “I’m not sure you can keep a secret.”

Knight whined at him and Kurt lifted him into a hug.

In the privacy of his room, with the door locked and the blinds on the window drawn, Kurt opened his mother’s Book of Shadows. He placed it next to the book on demons, remembering how it had only looked like blank pages to Quinn when she had seen it. The book was obviously charmed to his specific blood.

When Knight trotted up, Kurt said quietly, “I know that my mother had to use one or both of these to summon those demons. I need to know how.”

He wasn’t planning on raising any demons out of hell. That was for sure. But there was Daniel Freedman to consider. His mother had summoned demons and one of them had gotten trapped in an innocent witch for fifteen years. That seemed a horrible, torturous fate when Kurt considered it. So he thought it was his obligation to fix his mother’s mistakes. She was gone. She was dead. She couldn’t atone for the way she’d wronged people. Kurt would have to do it for her.

And the circle couldn’t know. They wouldn’t approve and they couldn’t support him. Not on the matter of demons. They’d say it was too dangerous. 

“I think this is it,” Kurt mumbled after he was halfway through the demon book. There was a picture of a rune, and if the description was right, it was probably, along with the listed spell, what his mother had used to bind the demon into Freedman. There was, thankfully, a counter spell as well. 

Knight barked and Kurt shushed him, eyes lighting up as he found an incantation for fire in his mother’s book. He couldn’t summon fire, but he was pretty sure he could control it, and if he managed to get the demon out, he could set it on fire before it got far.

“I’m going to do it,” Kurt said seriously, petting Knight. “I’m going to make things right. I’ll do what my mother was cut short from doing. I’m going to pull that demon out of him, Knight. I’m going to kill it, and then maybe my mom can be at rest. Or I can be at rest.”

The ritual for unbinding a demon from a host looked long and complicated, and Kurt wasn’t sure he’d be able to do it alone. He obviously needed to get help. He needed a witch who practiced dark magic, and he needed someone who had access to spell ingredients he’d never even heard of. He had to find someone experienced and he had to do it fast.


	18. Chapter 18

A witch’s yellow pages would have been invaluable. Sure, the idea was unrealistic, especially considering the fact that they were practically at war with the hunters now, but it really would have made things much simpler. Because he knew he needed help. He had to have a second pair of hands, and those hands needed to be much more experienced than his own.

When he’d been drugged by a supposed friend of his mother, and dragged out to the woods behind her house to be burned alive like everyone else in his bloodline, they’d painted runes on him. As drastic as it sounded, and had been, he’d been capable of disrupting the runes just by scratching through them. It wouldn’t be the case for Daniel Freedman.

The notes in his books about binding demons into human bodies with runes were … much more complicated. They couldn’t be painted. They had to be magically sealed on. And that meant using a complex spell to take them off, and Kurt wasn’t comfortable or capable. He didn’t even know half of the ingredients used in the potion that was needed to accompany the spell. And it wasn’t like he could just google for help.

The only thing he was certain of was the spell that he’d use after he managed to get the demon out. It was clean, simple, and he knew he could do it. He’d burn the demon to ashes, which he supposed was a little ironic.

He didn’t dare mention anything to his circle. Not even to Sebastian who almost always supported what he was doing, whether he agreed or not. Kurt supposed that was how his parents had been. He could imagine his father loved his mother so much that he wasn’t willing to help her do the things she deemed necessary, but it was enough for him to stand back and not interfere. Of the things he had known, naturally. He had a feeling that his father hadn’t known much. Not really. Kurt remembered that his father could be woefully blind to the things around him. A character flaw.

Neither could he ask his uncle. His Uncle Andy who shuffled around with heavy feet and drooping shoulders. Who had nightmares and drank twice the coffee now, and never looked Kurt in the eyes.

Kurt had done that. He’d hurt the one person who’d loved him unconditionally and without hesitation since his father had died. The man had taken Kurt in, with no obligation to do so, and this was how Kurt had repaid him.

Sometimes Kurt knew the price of knowledge was too high in some instances. And other times he knew he’d pay it a thousand fold.

Everything left him conflicted these days.

There was one person that Kurt thought might be able to help. Towards the back of his mother’s Book of Shadows, where the writing scrunched up and Kurt could tell the pages had been added in at the last second, there was mention of demons. In fact, despite the book having belonged to a bloodline that was apparently knee deep in them, it was the first mention. The latter passages mentioned demons, and dark rituals, and the kind of ingredients that Kurt also found in the demon book.

Lindsey Adams. Whoever that was, she knew more about dark magic than Kurt’s mother had. She was the person that his mother cited as being knowledgeable and a wealth of information. 

He hated to perpetuate a stereotype, but with any luck she’d have less than wholesome morals and be more than willing to practice a little dark magic with him. And that’s what it was. He was certain of it. He’d be casting spells using the darkness in him, regardless that he was trying to right a wrong. He was going down the path he never wanted to, but it seemed he couldn’t escape it.

So he couldn’t google half the things he needed, but he could google the name Lindsey Adams. And thank god for the internet and how loose people were with their information these days. He found a phone number first, and then an address second. Adams was over an hour away by car, but it was near enough, and the day was still early.

“Uncle Andy?”

Kurt had carefully packed up the two main books he was using, and a few more items, and then set off down the stairs to find his uncle. He didn’t want the man to worry. He seemed to be getting antsy over the smallest of things now.

“Uncle Andy?”

“I’m here.”

Kurt stopped as he reached the bottom landing and looked back up the stairs. He hadn’t even known his uncle had gone back up. The man was likely in his room.

“Uncle Andy. I’m going out for a while, okay?” Kurt said as he trekked down to the bedroom at the end of the hall. “Don’t wait up for me and don’t worry. I’m not sure how long this is going to take.”

Kurt froze in the doorway. His uncle was by the bed, a bag open in front of him, already stuffed half full with clothing. 

“Kurt,” his uncle greeted. “I thought you’d be out with Sebastian.”

“Are you going somewhere?”

He uncle looked confused for a minute, searching around for something, and then made a face when he realized he’d already packed it. “Tacoma.”

“Tacoma?” Kurt tried to remember the geography of the area. “But that’s not anywhere near here.”

“No,” his uncle agreed. “But it’s where Mildred lives. She’s been asking me to come visit forever and I think now is a good time.”

Kurt took a step forward. “But you’re always telling me about how you can’t get away from work. You barely have days off. And--”

“Kurt.” His uncle’s hands were shaking. 

Kurt fell silent, watching the man once more. His uncle was pale and unnerved, and even looked unsteady on his feet. Kurt had done that to him. No matter what he wanted to believe, or what anyone else said, Kurt had done it to him. So maybe it was better if his uncle left. Maybe the man needed to go, if only to get away from Kurt.

“How far is Tacoma. Really?”

His uncle said, “A half day by car, more if I get tired and have to stop.”

“How long will you be gone?”

His uncle set to packing again. “I don’t know. I took an indefinite leave from the hospital.”

Kurt crossed quickly to his side. “Is something wrong?” There were very few things more important to his uncle than his job up at the hospital. The man worked long hours, but he always said the time was well spent and rewarding. There was no way, not as Kurt could figure, that if his uncle was thinking clearly, he’d take an indefinite leave for absence. “You just quit?”

“I didn’t quit,” the man said tiredly. “When I come back my job will still be there.”

“But you don’t know when you’ll be back,” Kurt argued.

“No.”

“Why are you doing this?” he demanded, angry and upset. Why was his uncle just abandoning him? “You know what’s happening. You know the wolves are circling us, and you’re just going to leave? You don’t care? You … you said you’d protect me.”

Through gritted teeth, his uncle said, “You’re like your mother, Kurt. She never needed anyone to protect her.”

Like his mother. His uncle almost always referred to him as mirroring his father. Every single time. But this time … something was wrong.

“She needed protection when the hunters came for her,” Kurt pointed out. “They killed her entire family, and they would have killed her, if my dad hadn’t been as powerful as he was, or as protective.”

His uncle grimaced. 

“What?”

“It wasn’t your father they were scared of,” his uncle said, closing his suitcase. He turned without another word and left the room.

Kurt followed after. “I don’t want to be alone,” he choked out. The truth was, he was scared. He had half a dozen people claiming to look out for him, but likely hundreds more who wanted to see him dead. His uncle was all the family he had left, excluding his Aunt Mildred who he’d never met. And even if his uncle wasn’t a witch, and was nothing but utterly ordinary, Kurt felt more safe with him than anyone else.

“You’ll be fine.”

“What if …” Kurt took the stairs quickly. “What if I come and stay with you and Aunt Mildred for a while? Maybe even a couple of days?”

His uncle stopped so suddenly on the stairs that Kurt actually bumped him as he tried to not lose his footing. His uncle was wide eyed and frightened as he said, “No.”

“But there must be a bus of some kind that runs from Tacoma here. Or even to Seattle. I could probably talk Sebastian into picking me up from a stop in Seattle.”

Outside the house Kurt could here the tiny ticks of the raindrops hitting the windows. The sun was blotted out and there were barely enough lights on in the house. 

“No,” his uncle said again, and Kurt realized the man was scared. He was scared of Kurt following after him. He was scared of Kurt.

The idea was heartbreaking.

Less than five minutes later his uncle was ready to go. He told Kurt, “I’ll call,” but Kurt really didn’t think he would. Then he dashed out the front door and to his car in the driveway.

Kurt leaned on the open door and watched the car drive away. It was the first time in his life he actually hated what he was. He’d never blamed the magic for his parents dying, or for the hunters, or anything else. But he blamed the magic in him for running his uncle off, and in that he blamed himself.

He could have moped around the house feeling sorry for himself, or raided the refrigerator for ice cream. Or, he realized, he could squash down the hurt and the anger and the betrayal he was feeling, and get on with things.

It was easier to pretend he was okay, than to actually try to be that way.

He took his car keys, threw on a raincoat and headed out the door. He drove through the rain and his tears, toward the address he had programmed into his GPS.

The address brought him to a quaint looking house in a more suburban area than he would have expected. And in the form of small favors, the rain had lightened to a mere drizzle by the time he got out and ran the distance to the front door.

If Lindsey wasn’t there Kurt didn’t know what he’d do. She had to be there. He couldn’t stand to know that one more person who had been any ally to his parents had either turned coat or been killed. 

A young looking woman, probably a couple years older than Kurt, answered the door. She was pretty, with her hair pulled tightly back, but there was also a sternness to her face that he didn’t like. She looked impatient, too, as she asked, “Yes?”

Kurt cleared his voice and hoped he didn’t look too much like a drowned rat. “I’m Kurt Hummel,” he introduced, “and I’m looking for a Lindsey Adams. Does she live here?”

Amusement spiked on her face. “Why are you asking?”

Kurt frowned. “Because she was a friend of my mother, Elizabeth. She and my mother started something, or at least she helped my mother start something, and mistakes were made. My mother is dead now, and I want to fix those mistakes. Now, could you please tell me if Lindsey Adams lives here?”

Finally, the girl introduced, “I’m Katherine, but everyone called me Kitty. And I’m sorry for your loss. But you see, the thing that’s going to be a little problematic is that Lindsey Adams, who you just assumed to be a girl, was my grandfather. And he died when I was just a kid.”

Kurt felt foolish and laughed. “Sorry. I did think he was a girl.” He sobered up. “And I am sorry for your loss, too.”

Kitty shrugged. “Happened a long time ago.”

Kurt took a step back and suddenly looked stricken. Lindsey Adams had been his last shot. He needed the help. He couldn’t do it on his own, and now he felt like a boat without a rudder, just drifting along helplessly.

“Maybe I can help you. What did you need my grandfather’s help with?”

He couldn’t help hesitating. After all, he didn’t want to come off looking like a freak if she didn’t know anything about magic. If she wasn’t a practicing witch. “I … needed to know where I could get some ingredients for a … herbal remedy I’m working on.” That as his best effort. He held out an only semi water damaged sheet of paper with the potion list.

She took one look at the list and burst out laughing. “Is that what you witches are calling it these days? An herbal remedy?”

Kurt cracked a smile. “I didn’t want to scare you, if you didn’t know.”

“Fair enough.” She waved him into the house and out of the rain.

There was absolutely nothing magical about the inside of the house, but then Kurt thought his own seemed just the same. Houses could be deceiving, and it was easy enough to hide things. But then she took him downstairs, into the basement, and the word before Kurt changed.

The space looked a bit like a shop, actually, with rows and rows of books lining the walls, displays of charms and amulets everywhere. There were bottles of indeterminable liquids, drawings of ritual symbols and everything that a witch would ever need.

But the thing was, Kurt had gotten very good at sensing magic. It was all he felt now, really. He felt it in nature and he felt it in other people, in items that had been magicked and even locations that had hosted magic hundreds of years ago. He felt it everywhere. Everywhere, it seemed, excepted in Kitty.

“You’re not a witch.”

She laughed over her shoulder as she went to shelf filled with jars. “I’m just as much a witch as you are. Would you like me to cast a spell for you?”

“You’re not,” he argued. “I can’t feel you. I can feel witches.”

She went through the list she had in her hands, picking out the things he needed with such familiarity and ease that he knew she knew exactly what she was doing. She was young, but she was very capable.

Kurt knew the correction he had to make. “You’re an unnatural witch.”

“That is a nasty thing to call a person,” she said peevishly. “My magic is as natural as yours. I just wasn’t born with it.”

“Hence why it’s unnatural.”

Kitty told him, “It doesn’t matter how someone gets magic. All that matters is if they have it.”

He thought about Fischer and said, “Forgive me if I’m not all that sympathetic on the matter. The last time I was attacked by an unnatural witch it was because he want to steal my magic. He … he was responsible for the death of my father.”

Kurt wanted to ask where she’d gotten her magic from. He wanted to know if she’d stolen it or hurt someone for it. And she seemed to sense the questions, because she said, “I provide a service. And as you can clearly see, it’s a specialized kind. Witches come to me because they’re in need of something the hunters have tried to snuff out. And in return, they give me magic. It’s a fair trade, and I’d wager it’s made me fairly powerful.” 

But it was unnatural. He understood the allure of magic, and how it was easy to crave it, but either you were born with it or you weren’t. Kurt didn’t think it was meant to be shared, not in the way Kitty did it. 

“Is that what you’ll want from me?” he asked. “Some of my magic?”

She looked back to him. “I want to know why you need these things. These are the kind of items that you use in combination for some serious dark magic. You explain and we’ll talk price after.”

Kurt nodded and pulled the demon book from his bag. “My mother sealed a demon in a witch fifteen years ago to stop it. I’m going to finish was she died too soon to do. I’m going to get that demon out and kill it.”

As it turned out, no matter the magic that Kitty had, however shady acquired, she couldn’t see a single thing in the demon book. It was a bit of a letdown this time, unlike with Quinn when it had been a relief.

“I’ve seen this before,” Kitty said with a shrug, not upset. “It’s coded to your magic. Specifically.”

Kurt asked, “So if I had a sibling or a cousin, they’d be able to read it? Or my parents?”

Kitty surprised him by shaking her head. “No. It’s coded to you. It’s charmed specifically for you and only you. Everyone’s magical signature is different. This is yours on the book and only you can see the contents.”

“Mine,” Kurt breathed out, looking down at the crinkled, nearly cracked pages. “How?”

“Your mother,” Kitty said with a shrug. “Probably. It’s this thing that parents used to do with really important things, like books. It’s a safety measure, and it’s meant to protect important things. I usually see this kind of charm on lockboxes, though.”

That explained why Kurt had needed Sebastian and Blaine to get each of the respective boxes open. Of course why Cooper had pushed him to try and get the Anderson box open on his own was still a mystery, unless Cooper had been testing his magic.

“But why would my mom make it so only I could read a book on demons? Why this book above all the others?”

Kitty laid all the things on Kurt’s list out. “I know about your mother, Kurt Hummel. She was practically my grandfather’s Malcolm X. I’d say, if I had to guess, that she knew she wasn’t going to live long enough to see you grow up. The revolutionaries never live long.”

He had to transfer over everything that he saw in the demon book onto a separate piece of paper, by hand, so that Kitty could see both the potion and the spell as a whole. His hand was throbbing by the time he finished, but he could tell Kitty was thoroughly engrossed.

“I can do the spell,” he told her. “I can get the rune off, but the potion that has to come first, the salve that has to be rubbed on the rune before I can get it off, that’s what I need your help with. And I need you to be my anchor when I start the spell. It’s going to consume me and I need someone to hold me here. I need a magic anchor and your magic might not be natural, but it’s good enough. And I need you… as backup, I guess, for when I get the demon out.”

“You have a plan for that, right? Because demons slip so easily from host to host that one could be in your before you take a single breath.”

“Look.” Kurt turned his mother’s book towards her, pointed at something only he could see. “When I pull the demon out I’ll be using so much magic it’ll be stunned for a few second. I know it’s only a few, but it’ll have to be enough. This is the spell I’m going to use to kill it. You have to drown a lesser demon or burn it. Those are the only two ways to kill it. While I’m casting the spell you’re going to be my eyes on the demon. I have to read from the book, I can’t watch it at the same time.”

She stretched up to her fully height and crossed her arms. “You mean to tell me that your plan is to draw a demon out of a sealed host, kill it, and then pack up and go home?”

Kurt raised an eyebrow. “I don’t think it’s going to be that easy, but yes, essentially.”

“And you want to do this all on the night that the two most sacred councils are meeting for the first time in fifteen years? Since your father’s circle blotched the job?”

“How do you know that?” Cooper barely knew anything and he seemed to have eyes and ears everywhere.

Kitty looked at him like he was stupid. “I have clients. Sometimes they give me magic as payment. Sometimes they give me knowledge.”

“Does it have to be then? That same night?” That seemed like it was just asking for trouble, even if neither of the events were related.”

“Demons,” she told him, “are fickle things. As is dark magic, believe it or not. All of that good and pure magic that witches are always drowning on about, it’s bound by the rules of nature. Dark magic is bound by the lunar and solar cycles. We have to wait for the moon if there’s even the slightest chance of this working, and that just happens to coincide with the summit meeting.”

“How long would we have to wait if we didn’t do it then?”

“A couple of months,” she guessed. “I don’t know for sure. I could check.”

“No.” He shook his head. It had to be then.

“Do you know where the host is?”

“I do.” Tracking Daniel Freeman down had actually been harder than finding Lindsey Adams’ old residence, but not impossible. “It’s in a care facility about forty minutes from here. It’s got minimal security because most if not all of the patients are comatose and docile, so we shouldn’t have a problem there. I think we could get in, and get out, without anyone knowing. Especially if Daniel has his own room, like the website for the facility boasts its patients do. If there’s a problem, I’ve been practicing a sleeping spell. I’ve gotten much better at it. I should be able to put everyone in the facility out.”

“Clever boy,” she complimented.

“Then you’ll do it? You agree to help me?” It was so dangerous he’d half expected to be refused before he even finished.

She agreed, “I’ll do it. I can’t say I’ve ever encountered a demon before, but grandfather put a couple of them down in his day and age. I think I can do the same.”

She accepted so frivolously that he wanted to tell her to think again, or take some time before giving her answer, but he was so desperate. “And what about your payment? Some of my magic?”

He didn’t know if magic replenished itself. Maybe once it was gone, it was gone forever. If that was the case, how much could he afford to give to her? And would she want his mother’s legacy or his circle magic? He had to set conditions somewhere. There had to be boundaries. Even if it cost him her help.

“Not you magic.” She crossed the room to an antique looking cabinet. She opened it and inside he could see vials of dark liquid. “I want your blood.”

He felt faint. “My blood?”

“You’re very green,” she said in a placating tone, and first he’d thought she’d meant his coloring. Then she added, “You know almost nothing about the gift your mother passed on to you. Words are powerful for average magic casting, but the truly powerful kind? The magic deemed dark because of those who fear it? Words have less power there. Blood is everything.”

Shakily he asked, “How much would you want?”

She closed the cabinet. “Just enough.”

Kurt, no matter how much he knew it was a bad idea, agreed. He held out his arm and said, “Now, please. I want you to start on my potion as soon as you can.”

Kitty walked him to the door after the blood was drawn and put away safely. He had a bandage tied around his arm and hidden from view. She hadn’t taken much, less than he’d expected, and it had been over before he’d known. 

“I’ll call you in a week,” she said. “I’ll have the potion finished then. The moon will be half a week away from that point, and we’ll need the time to prepare ourselves. There aren’t many types of protection against demons, but there are some. We’d be wise to use what’s at our disposal.”

She closed the door behind him and Kurt stepped back out into the rain, feeling less weighted than he’d thought he would.

He dashed the distance to his truck with an arm held up as a brace against the rain. A car was passing on the street and he pulled open the door to his truck as fast as he could to avoid be splashed. He breathed deep when he was safely inside, fingers freezing and looking like he’d gone for a swim in the ocean with his clothes on.

“So who’s our new friend?”

Kurt hit his head on the ceiling of the truck cab and whipped violently to where the voice had come from. “Jesus Christ, Noah!” With every bit of strength he punched Noah in the arm. “You can’t just sneak up on people like that!” Water dripped into his eyes from his bangs. “What’re you even doing here?”

“Making new friends,” Noah said in a facetious tone and thumbed towards the house. “Hot new friends. Kind of looked like Quinn, though, so that might be a squick factor.”

Kurt turned the truck on and was tempted, just for a second, to use his magic on the malfunctioning heater. Instead he had a spare coat in the back and he swapped out his wet one for it as he asked, “Did you follow me here?”

“Yes.”

“Well,” Kurt sighed out, “at least you didn’t try to lie to me about it.”

Noah shrugged. “Don’t know why I would.”

There was nothing he could do about his wet pants, even with the way they made his teeth chatter in the horribly cold truck. But the jacket was nice and he tried to melt into it.

“Did the others send you to watch me?” Maybe Sebastian trusted him, and loved him, but the others were less understanding. They were frightened, even if it wasn’t of him. He wouldn’t have been surprised if they had someone tail him and keep an eye on what he was doing. “Spy on me?”

Noah barked out, “Stop being such a paranoid freak. Yes, I followed you, yes, I was told to, and no, it isn’t because we all think you’re going to summon some demons just like dear old mom. Also, do you know how fucking expensive cabs are now?”

Kurt flinched. “Then why?”

“Enough already with the magic ban.” Noah caught his fingers, mumbled under his breath, and finally there was sweet relief in the form of a burst of warmth. The sensation relaxed Kurt against the seat as the truck idled. “I don’t think it matters anymore,” Noah argued.

Kurt pressed again, “Why’re you following me?”

Kurt was gifted with an incredulous look. “Because there are hunters prowling around out here, and some of them may have you tagged like an animal. Sebastian and Quinn, if you must know, though Rachel and Blaine backed it, suggested that I follow you if you left your house without telling anyone. For your safety. To be safe. Shit, I know I’m not all superman like you are with the magic, but I’d be able to do something if you were attacked, and that’s why I’m here.”

That was actually kind of sweet. As far as Noah went, that was like hanging the moon for someone. 

“Sorry about that,” Kurt said, rubbing his hands together. “I’m a little jumpy.”

Without preamble, Noah wanted to know, “Why’d you go see the girl?”

“Her grandfather was a friend of my mother.”

Quietly, Noah said, “I did that, you know. I did what you’re doing now. When I got old enough to start asking questions, and when I didn’t have any answers, I went looking for clues and people and anything tied to my parents. Sometimes I didn’t like what I found, Kurt. We think of our parents as these perfect people, and when we find out they’re not, it’s hard.”

“I know my mom wasn’t perfect.” Kurt put the truck into gear, let the clutch out and started off down the street. “My mom played around with demons, got most of her circle killed and nearly started a hunter/witch war. Trust me, I know she wasn’t perfect.”

“Okay. Then what are you really doing here?”

Kurt glanced at him. “I told you, there was a man--”

“Kurt, don’t bullshit me. Have I not had your back? When the circle went against you with your uncle, I backed you. I’ve always supported you because I trust you. And I’m a master at detecting when I’m being lied to. So how about you return some of that trust? I think by now we’ve both figured out I have the loosest morals of the circle.”

When Kurt had found out about the demons being in one of the three boat accident survivors, Daniel Freeman, he hadn’t really wanted to tell the circle. Part of him had been afraid they’d turn on him. Or at least wouldn’t understand, or maybe they’d blame him. In any case, he valued them, which also made him fear them from time to time. The other part of him had simply felt it was his wrong to fix. His bloodline’s chance to make things right, and it was a burden that other people shouldn’t have had to shoulder.

Eventually, however, Sebastian had talked him into being completely truthful with them. They were his circle, and the upcoming summit between hunters and witches was likely going to play out as the determining factor in their future as witches. Or maybe just as mouth breathers. The circle deserved to know why the last summit had ended in death, and why the new one wouldn’t, even if they had to fight to keep it that way.

“The man, Daniel Freedman,” Kurt said simply.

“You feel guilty,” Noah inferred.

Kurt shook his head. “I feel like I can do something.”

It took less time than imagined to explain his plan to Noah, and in the end Noah only blinked at him with wide, judgment free eyes and said, “That’s a very interesting plan you have there.”

“Interesting?”

Noah turned to look out the window as they drove onto the freeway. “Well, by interesting I really mean stupid, but same thing.”

“See, this is why I didn’t want to tell anyone.”

“There’s a problem,” Noah pointed out, “when you know that everyone is going to say that your plan is stupid, but you still want to do it anyway. Look, I’m the last person to try and tell you right from wrong, but you are not experienced enough to deal with demons. I’m not either, for that matter. Or Cooper, or anyone we know. We can’t handle them. Not even one. It’s stupid to try, and I don’t think it’s going to end well for anyone involved.”

Kurt demanded, “So I just let this guy, Daniel, rot with a demon in him? Who knows if he’s aware of what’s going on inside him. Maybe every day is like torture.”

“And maybe every day is just a long sleep. That’s my point. You don’t know.”

“I know my mom sealed that demon in him.” Kurt’s fingers curled around the steering wheel. “She could have hoped that Daniel would drown and take care of the problem with her, taking that demon with him to the bottom of the ocean. But I want to think that she planned to come back for him. She knew my dad would figured out she’d called for an early vote. She knew he’d come after her as soon as possible and be able to save at least someone. Even if it’s not true, I want to pretend that she sealed that demon in him to keep him safe, and she was going to unseal it and kill it later on. She just never got the chance.”

“Your mother’s penance isn’t your own, Kurt.”

“No,” he agreed, “but I want to do this. Part of me feels like I have to. What’s the point of being a witch if I can’t use the magic for something other than self gain? If I can help this man, Noah, I have to try. And Kitty is … she’s young but very capable. She can make the salve that I need for the rune and then she can anchor me when I perform the spell.”

“No. No way.”

Fear struck in Kurt’s chest. “Please don’t tell the others.”

Noah looked confused. Slowly he said, “No. No way I’m letting some magical leech be your anchor. You know the best anchor is someone in your circle who’s not only familiar with your magic, but shares it with you.”

“You?” Kurt guessed. Would Noah really be willing to do that?

“Say we get the demon out,” Noah posed. “What then?”

Kurt’s books, in the back of the truck’s cab had been heavily shielded from the rain. He nodded towards them and said, “Then I use the spell in my mother’s Book of Shadows to burn that thing back to hell.”

“I’m not letting you do it alone.”

As little as Kurt actually wanted Noah involved, mostly for his safety, he had to admit, he felt better knowing that someone in his circle would be there to help. He wasn’t stupid. Kitty couldn’t be trusted, but Noah could.

“Thanks.”

“And,” Noah drew the word out, “I think you should think about letting your boyfriend in on this.”

“No!” Kurt’s response was prompt and sharp. “No. Noah, he can’t know anything. I don’t want him there. It isn’t safe.”

“Oh, but you’ll have me there in a second.”

“You already know,” Kurt said apologetically. “And I couldn’t stop you if I wanted to.”

Noah said, “I was just teasing. But not about the Sebastian part. That kid is crazy powerful, just like you. Difference is, he doesn’t realize it. And I know you know what happens when you two get together.”

A little bit of humor bubbled up. “Well, I usually see stars.”

Noah rolled his eyes. “God, this is so cheesy, but you two probably make stars. The rest of us feel it. You two connect stronger than the other four of us put together. The power of our circle triples, if not more when you and Smythe are present. Having him there could be a boost for us. In fact I know it would be.”

“No,” Kurt said again. “That would mean exposing him to the demons. Noah, my mother summoned demons that killed his father. I can’t risk them being anywhere near him.”

Noah, thankfully didn’t push any further. He only gave Kurt a look that said he didn’t agree, and then asked for more details on the spell, potion and rune.

When Kurt pulled up into his driveway, the Saturday weather not looking any better now than when he’d left, Noah made him swear not to try and leave him behind.

He promised, “If you try to fake me out, or cut me out, Kurt, I’ll tell everyone. I’ll tell the entire circle. That’s the deal. I’m there or nothing.”

Kurt met the threat with a half hug and parted with him then, jogging back to his house.

On Sunday he tried to pretend like nothing had happened the day before. Maybe like nothing had ever happened at all. He worked on a couple of school related things, tried calling his uncle to no avail, and then went down to the coffee shop for his afternoon shift. He was thankful he only had a short shift that day. A few hours was the most he felt he could handle.

Sebastian, of course, knew there was something wrong right away. He shadowed Kurt, making inquires about his health and tried to give him extra, unneeded breaks. 

“I’m fine,” Kurt stressed by the time he hung up his apron. “But you’re driving me crazy.”

“Sorry,” Sebastian mumbled.

That made Kurt feel horrible, and he was sure to press a deeply apologetic kiss to Sebastian’s lips. “I’m just upset over my uncle. And I know we’re all stressed about … other things.”

“Maybe you should hang around then,” Sebastian suggested. “It’ll be easy to run the customers out of here in a couple of hours. Then it can be just me and you, our table in the corner, and a couple of cappuccinos. What do you say?”

“I say,” Kurt said with another kiss, this time to the corner of Sebastian’s mouth, “that I just want to go home. I’m sorry. I really just do.”

He wanted to go home and burry his face in a pillow, actually. But he settled for camping out in the living room, a blanket pulled to his shoulders as he watched the new episode of Downton Abbey.

The doorbell rang a few times later, right when the episode started to good, and Kurt was about to get up before he heard the click of a lock turning. Only two people, besides himself, had keys to the house and Kurt knew one of them wasn’t coming back. At least not for a while.

“Sebastian?”

“It’s me!” Sebastian came into view and he explained, “I know you’re tried and you’re … have you been crying?”

Kurt’s eyes did burn. They were probably red, but he hadn’t been crying. He pointed to the TV anyway and said, “Poor Sybil. I don’t know who to blame, and poor Tom. They were so wonderful together.”

“Okay,” Sebastian eased out. He crossed to Kurt, took him firmly by the wrists and tugged him up while shutting the TV off. “No more Edwardian dramas for you. Though I do have to admit, you’d made a stunning gentleman of the day. I’m sure you’d have gone to all the social parties and been filthy rich, and--”

“And,” Kurt interrupted, “I wouldn’t have been able to love you. So it wouldn’t have been so wonderful. Now, what’re you doing here?”

Sebastian got a foolish look on his face. “The clouds have cleared up.”

“That means something?” 

“Well, it means it isn’t raining anymore, and it also means that I get to show you something that I’ve been saving for a time like this.”

Kurt wasn’t sure what that meant, but the sight of Sebastian did make him feel better, and it was why he put on his heavy shoes at ten at night, and his heaviest coat, and agreed to follow Sebastian out to his car.

“We haven’t really gotten to spend much time together,” Sebastian said as they drove. “We’re too busy worry about things, and trying to cover our asses. We haven’t gone out, just you and me, in a really long time. I don’t want you to think I’m neglecting you.”

Kurt reached for his hand in the car, and those stars he’d teased Noah with were exploding in his mind. “I’m not some poor whelp who needs to be the center of attention. We may not get much time to ourselves, but I know we do the bet we can. I’m not complaining.”

Sebastian’s eyes shined a little, but Kurt didn’t comment on it.

They were going to the lighthouse. That was clear enough by the road they took. There were no other cars parked in the tiny parking lot and Kurt could see that Sebastian was relieved they were alone.

“I hate to break it to you,” Kurt laughed, “but we’ve been here a million times before this. Didn’t you say you’d been saving this?”

“Come on,” Sebastian urged him from the car. “You’ve seen a part of the lighthouse. Not my favorite part, though.”

They went up the regular way, passing through their meeting space, but then up along another narrow set of stairs, and when they got dangerously so, Kurt had to hold tight to the railing as he felt Sebastian’s warm had on his back. “Where does this lead?” Kurt asked in a whisper. He didn’t know why he felt the need to whisper, but he couldn’t bring himself to raise his voice.

“To the top,” Sebastian said, and on they climbed.

Eventually there was a platform they could both stand on, and it made Kurt breathe easier, at least until Sebastian let them to a far door that had been so well camouflaged that Kurt hadn’t even seen it. He gave a heavy push on the stiff door and led Kurt out to the balcony outside the lighthouse.

“Here,” Sebastian said, taking Kurt’s hand and pulling him along the creaky, metal structure. “This is it.”

“What is?” Kurt asked skeptically. They were facing out to the water, and the fog had rolled in due to the hour, so it was pretty, but it was nothing Kurt hadn’t seen before. “There’s nothing but …” he trailed off as he looked up.

“There you go,” Sebastian said knowingly.

There were a million stars. Maybe more. And they were all bright and twinkling and so very breathtaking. They blanketed the night sky like the stars in Kurt’s bedroom did the ceiling. There seemed no end to them, and Sebastian squeezed his hand like he understood the overwhelming feeling of life that Kurt was feeling. Life and beauty and wonderment. 

“I love to come up here,” Sebastian told him. “I could stay up here forever, even though I’m not supposed to, and just look at the stars. It’s the best place to see them all. This lighthouse is the tallest peak and has the best view. I’d live up there with the stars if I could.”

“I never noticed how many there were.” Kurt’s breath came out visibly in front of him and he used his free hand to hold Sebastian’s arm, tugging him close. “I always knew stars were beautiful, but not like this.”

Sebastian touched his cheek almost afraid. “You’re the only person I’ve ever wanted to share this with. You’re the only person I’ve ever loved.”

Kurt sighed happily, leaning into the kiss he knew they both wanted. He felt Sebastian wrap around him and they consumed each other. Nothing else but that moment mattered. Nothing but Sebastian mattered.

Kurt’s lips were cold and numb by the time he exercised enough self control to draw himself back from Sebastian. With a final squeeze to the man’s hand he dared to take a step towards the railing so he could see further.

“Careful,” Sebastian cautioned, pressed along his back. “The railing always rattles and it’s easy to lose your balance.”

“More people should come up here,” Kurt said. He wanted to keep the spot so badly for just himself and Sebastian. It was almost too lovely to share. But he knew that other people deserved to feeling that Kurt got from the stars. Other people deserved the breath of life.

Confidently, Sebastian said, “I doubt you’ll ever catch anyone up here besides us. People don’t even come to the lighthouse anymore. Neither are we supposed to be out here.”

“Why not?” Kurt wondered if he could use magic to make his ceiling look more like the night sky. Improve on its realism. 

“Because of Caroline.”

“Caroline? Will you tell me?”

Sebastian nodded. “She was a girl, obviously, and she lived about a hundred and fifty years ago. This lighthouse was just built then and I guess she loved to come up here and think. It’s a good thinking spot.”

Kurt pulled on the rusting, shaky handrail. “Something happened to her?”

“Of course.” Sebastian held him more tightly. “She was in love with a boy from town and they were set to get married in the spring, as soon as the fog lifted and the weather warmed. He begged her all the time not to come up here because it wasn’t safe, but she wanted to see the stars. And then one day a screw came loose from the railing. She put her hand down on it, it gave out and she fell to her death.”

“That’s terrible!” Kurt turned to him. 

“The fog was so heavy that time of year they didn’t even know she’d fallen down to the rocks below until a week later,” Sebastian added. “But this town is filled with stories like that. I could tell you the one about a boy Jonathan who went off to fight in the the Great War and left his fiancé behind only to never come home. There’s a Mary who had a terrible locomotive accident two weeks before her wedding in the early twentieth century, and this town even has a Titanic claim to fame, with two lovers being torn apart by it sinking. In fact, this lighthouse has seen more than a couple of notable suicides because of those sorts of events.”

Kurt didn’t see what the big deal was. “No matter where you go, there’s always going to be stories of tragedy.”

“Of course,” Sebastian agreed, pressing a kiss to Kurt’s cold neck. “But can they all claim they’re from the same bloodline? The same two?”

Kurt started. “Huh?”

“Caroline,” Sebastian told him, “was a Hummel. So was Jonathan. Mary was a Smythe by blood. The Titanic story? Both a Hummel and a Smythe on board. And every one of the suicides here, with the exception of one, has been either by a Smythe or a Hummel, after the loss of one of the other.”

Feeling breathless, Kurt asked, “What does that mean?”

Sebastian’s head dropped onto Kurt’s shoulder. “We’re fated, remember? Destined to be together? I never … I didn’t want to say it because I didn’t want to scare you or run you off, but it’s not just some heartwarming story that a seer decided on four hundred years ago. The truth is, the woman who made the claim, Bessie Grant, was in love with your ancestor, Kurt. She loved him and he chose my ancestor, so she thought we ought to have each other in the worst way. She bound the Hummels and the Smthes together then, but with the horrible additive that they’d forever be bound together in their misery. Smythes and Hummels have been trying to get together for hundreds of years and none of them have every succeeded. At least not for very long. We’re cursed.”

“I don’t believe in that,” Kurt said firmly. “I don’t believe in any of the nonsense.”

Sebastian said softly, “I believe that every Hummel who has tried to love a Smythe, or any Smythe who has been drawn to a Hummel, has lost that love. Sometimes they steer clear of each other for that very reason. I guess… for a while that’s why I thought your dad stopped loving my mom. Maybe he wanted to spare her from whatever misery might be waiting for them. I used to think that a lot when I was a kid.”

“Then why would your mother push so hard for us?” Kurt demanded. “Why would she raise you up to think you only had to be with me? And that you had no other choice? Especially if she knew it was going to end badly. Why would she do that to her son?”

“Ask her,” Sebastian said dryly, “and she’ll give you some bullshit answer about how true love can break the curse. Like this is some Disney story and she thinks that we’re going to be the ones to defy every other Hummel and Smythe’s fate before us. All those other people were in love with each other, Kurt. Some of them managed to get married but none of them started families or lasted long. And look what happened to our parent’s circle. My mom and your dad weren’t even together and that happened.”

“So I’m confused. Do you believe or not?”

“I believe in what I feel for you.” Kurt’s head turned and Sebastain’s mouth grazed his. “I believe that I would spend the rest of my life with you if I could, and that I would be anything for you, do anything for you and give anything to you. I love you more than you can know. Maybe Smythes and Hummels are cursed to be together and then be ripped apart. Or maybe that’s just my wasted mom blabbing about the one that got away. So the answer is I don’t know if I believe. There are a lot of people who died in our bloodline while in love with each other, but I know I won’t let anything happen to you. Nothing like that.”

It was such a sad thing to imagine. Smythes and Hummels had been trying to come together for centuries, some finding engagements, others barely finding marriage, and all of them dying for it. It could be coincidence. Kurt didn’t think he believed in inevitable curses any more than he believed in fate. But it was unsettling to his stomach, and he didn’t want to think about it.

“Even if I only have a short time with you, it’ll be worth it,” Kurt swore. “I would rather love hard and live short, than not love you and not be with you and live to be a hundred. So cursed or not, I choose you.”

“Me too,” Sebastian said quietly. “One year or a hundred. I don’t care.”

Eventually Kurt’s fingers began to hurt from exposure and he was forced to admit the cold was too extreme. He tugged Sebastian back into the heated lighthouse and towards the longest sofa in the room that was extra wide and draped with a quilt that Quinn claimed every woman in her family had had a hand at crafting.

“What’s going on?” Sebastian laughed as Kurt pushed him down onto the sofa and then made to straddle him.

“I love you,” Kurt said, leaning down for a kiss. He shifted his pelvis down and against Sebastian, bringing to light that he was already aroused. “And I want to be with you.”

“You’re gorgeous.” Sebastian’s hands bracketed his hips. “But I want to be sure. About what you’re saying. Because if this is--”

Kurt leaned away and reached into his back pocket for his wallet. “Don’t go anywhere,” Kurt laughed with a peck to Sebastian’s mouth. 

Sebastian groaned, arching up against Kurt. “Not a problem.”

“Got it.” In the back spot of Kurt’s wallet he pulled free a condom. “This is how sure I am.” He snapped the wrapped condom between his teeth, dumped his wallet to the side and popped the top button on his jeans.

Below him Sebastian gasped out, “You don’t even know what you’re doing to me.”

Kurt grinned, pulling the condom from his mouth with unfounded confidence. It was the adrenaline, he told himself. Once the adrenaline was gone he’d be an absolute mess of nervousness. But for now he had courage, and he has his boyfriend and he had the condom. It was enough.

“You sure?” Kurt asked. “You asked me, but I want to ask you. We both have to be ready for this. No doubts?”

“None.” Sebastian’s arms locked behind Kurt’s neck as he drew the pale boy down for a deeper kiss, one that involved teeth and tongue and enough stimulation to get things going properly.

Kurt smiled against Sebastian’s mouth. “Good. Now help me get my pants off. And I love you. Sorry. I know, I sound like a dork, but I really needed to say it again. I love you.”

Sebastian embraced him tightly. “I love you so much, Kurt Hummel. And I won’t let anything happen to us.”


	19. Chapter 19

Kurt kept still as Cooper turned to him, placing both hands on Kurt’s shoulders with a serious expression. “I don’t think I need to tell you how important tonight is.”

“No,” Kurt said a little testily. 

“Question,” Quinn posed, taking up position next to Kurt protectively. “Are we sure the hunters aren’t going to use tonight as a distraction to try and attack us? Or Kurt? Because it wouldn’t be a half bad idea. They know we’re all going to be distracted with the witch’s council and the hunter’s council all in the same spot for the first time since our parents had their circle.”

“No,” Cooper said sharply. “There’s been a stay of all action. Hunters and witches aren’t to so much breathe on each other tonight or they risk more than just excommunication of their respective groups. This is a summit. Anyone breaking the rules of tonight would be … we’ll just say their own would turn on them. Tonight all of you can walk without fear.”

Noah crossed his arms. “As long as it goes well, right? As long as this summit doesn’t fall through.”

“Exactly,” Cooper said seriously. “Tonight has been in the works for a long time. Tonight we either call a final truce or we go to war with the hunters. So have a little less attitude on the matter or you could find yourself a soldier in an unwinnable war.”

Eyes narrowing, Kurt wondered, “Is there going to be a third party?”

Cooper guessed, “Like our parents were last time? Understand this, at the time, their circle was the most powerful on this coast, and maybe even the whole continent. They were invited to have a vote more out of necessity than anything else. They were knee deep in it because they had to be, not because any of them wanted to, save for a few.” 

“And this time?”

With a nod of his head, Cooper said, “There is another circle who’ll be there. They’re from south of here. They came into town a few days ago and they’ve been laying low since. They’re the powerhouse this time around, and I’m not going to lie to any of you, they’re predominantly of the same mindset that Elizabeth Hummel was. They won’t settle for terms they deem unfair.”

Sebastian moved to Kurt’s other side so he and Quinn were bracketing Kurt in. “What happens if there isn’t a settlement? What if the hunters won’t back down and neither will the witches? We go to war with them?”

“Of course we do,” Kurt said softly. “Cooper, how will the others vote?”

Cooper let out a deep breath. “The witch’s council is older than that of the hunter’s. They’re more seasoned, too. I know they’ll settle. Almost all of them will, at least. They won’t care if it means putting an end to practicing magic as we know it. They won’t want to risk going to war with the hunters. Most of them have grandchildren who are your age and they’d be the first hit.”

“The hunters?” Sebastian prompted.

“Believe it or not,” Cooper credited, “they’re sensible. Witches won’t win a war against the hunters, but the losses the hunters would take in the ensuing years … they don’t want that. It’s avoidable. I think they’ll split on it. Hunters live shorter lives than witches by the nature of their work. Their council is younger and they’ll split, leaving the deciding votes up to the Mendoza Circle.”

“The Mendoza Circle. Is that what they’re called?” Kurt asked. 

“Circles, when they’re referred to at all by outside members, are mostly done so by the last name of the strongest member. If the council of witches ever call this circle to witness, they will call you the Hummel Circle.”

Rachel protested loudly and Kurt ignored her, asking, “Because of my blood? Because of my two bloodlines?”

Cooper agreed, “Because of who your parents were, but also because of your leadership qualities. The way you handle yourself and your circle brothers and sisters. Anyone who spends more than five minutes with you lot will be able to tell who’s the dominant member. Not to mention you reek of power, Kurt. None of the other members bleed it like you do.” Cooper looked to the rest of them. “That’s nothing to be ashamed of, but it’s always a necessity of a circle for maintaining order.”

“I thought there weren’t supposed to be any leaders,” Rachel said hotly.

“Being the most powerful doesn’t make a leader,” Cooper said. “And circles do not have leaders. You are a unit. Look around at yourselves. No one person is more important than the next. If anything happens to any one of you the circle is broken. You are one, and a leader individualizes one person and segregates them from the others. Kurt is not your leader. He does not tell you what to do. But he is naturally inclined to take control, and you all will feel naturally drawn to that kind of dominance. It’s the magic in you calling for synchronicity.”

Suddenly, Kurt asked, “Are you going? To the summit? Were you invited? Do you know where it is?”

“Why so curious?” Cooper asked through narrowed eyes. “But no, I was not invited. I’m not going, either. If things go poorly it’s going to be the first place the trouble breaks out in. They’ll turn on each other in a second. But yes, I do know where it’ll be.”

“Where?”

“Sacred ground,” Cooper said, but nothing more.

“What about us?” Quinn wanted to know.

Cooper turned from Kurt to stand back next to Blaine. “You’ll stay in groups to be safe until you know the outcome of the vote.”

Kurt bit his lip, then he had to ask, “Should we try to tell the two councils about what happened with our parents? We know the witches and hunters almost went to war last time because of the demon involvement. Don’t they deserve to know that it wasn’t either side that was really to blame for the accident that happened?”

“Your mom was to blame,” Blaine said knowingly. “I’m sorry, Kurt, but we do know where the blame goes. The council might have blindly admitted to it just to keep us from war back then, but the witches were to blame. They do have the blame and I don’t see the point of telling anyone.”

Cooper nodded. “Blaine is right. There’s nothing to be gained right now. Eventually the truth will come out. It always has a way of doing that, but tonight isn’t the night. Nothing needs to interfere with tonight.”

Kurt shared a quick look with Noah and said, “Since Noah and I live right next to each other, we’ll stay together tonight.” It was also a great way to make sure that Noah kept his word about not going to the others as long as he was involved. Tonight was his only chance for months more and he couldn’t afford to blow it. Especially not after giving Kitty what she wanted. 

“I could stay here,” Sebastian told him, such a bright smile on his face. He’d been looking at Kurt like that for two weeks now, ever since they’d had sex in the lighthouse. Ever since they’d given in to their desires and been each other’s firsts. Now Sebastian looked at him like Kurt was the sun. And Kurt? Kurt had never felt like his father’s son. Not really. Not until now. Not until he knew what it was like to love so much you’d go against your own morals and principals to protect them. To damn everyone else if only to save them. This was what Burt Hummel had been in the end for Elizabeth Murdock, and it was what Kurt Hummel now was for Sebastian Smythe.

Guilty twisted up in Kurt and he told Sebastian, “Your mom. You should probably stay with her, if only just in case things go bad. You know she’d be such an easy target. Only you’d be able to protect her.”

Quinn linked her arm through Sebastian’s and said, “I’ll stay with you tonight, and Rachel can go with Blaine.”

Sebastian leaned down so his mouth was closer to Kurt’s ear and he said quietly, only for the two of them, “I don’t feel good letting you out of my sight tonight. Just not tonight.”

Cooper was addressing a question Rachel had and Kurt took the opportunity to turn towards him, whispering back, “You know I can take care of myself.”

“But my mom won’t be the hunter’s first target if they come for witches,” Sebastian argued back. “You know it’ll be you.”

“Sebastian.”

He didn’t want to feel smothered. He didn’t want to feel like he needed to be protected, either. He liked knowing that he had an unwavering form of support in Sebastian, but he didn’t need to be coddled, and he wasn’t scared anymore. Not of the hunters. Not of things going sour and not of going to war. The only thing he was worried about was getting that night’s spell right and killing the last demon. Righting his mother’s wrong.

“Okay. Okay.” Sebastian let his fingers brush over the pulse on Kurt’s wrist. “But just … stay inside? Stay safe? And if things go bad--”

With everyone else engrossed in conversation, Kurt turned more fully to Sebastian and promised him, “If the tension boils over and the vote falls through, then we all come together. The six of us will be together and we’ll do whatever we have to keep each other safe. We’ll defend ourselves and our magic and everything we stand for. That’s what we’ll do.”

Sebastian nodded firmly. “To the end together.”

“Hopefully not before our time,” Kurt said in a laughing way. “I’ve still got a lot living left to do.” He wanted to grow old with Sebastian. He wanted to go to college and have a family and master his craft. He wanted to get married and wake up next to Sebastian every morning.

“You and me both.”

“This is still a stupid idea,” Noah said when the circle was gone and Cooper with them. “Still a really, really stupid idea.”

“We prepped for this,” Kurt said, pushing up the sleeve on his shirt. He ran his fingers over the painted runes on his forearm. He and Noah had painted them on each other, sealing them on with magic a few days earlier while Kitty watched them carefully for any mistakes. “But you don’t have to go. Back out now and I can still do this.”

Noah tapped the runes on Kurt’s pale skin. “And let you run off into the face of danger like the idiot you are without anyone to watch your back? Not likely. I don’t want to be responsible for that. And I’m pretty sure Sebastian would kill me if I let something happen to you.”

“You’re going to be my keeper now?” Kurt asked with a snort. 

Noah shrugged. “Sebastian might think you need one. I don’t. But you need your circle brother. You need an anchor that you trust and I’m not going to let that be anyone but me. Okay? So don’t ask again.”

“Shield,” Kurt repeated, pressing over the first rune. “That’s what this one means, right? The second is … strength.” There were dozens of them and they all meant different things, Kurt could only remember a few but he knew they were all important.”

“Don’t care what they mean,” Noah said, “as long as they protect us.”

Kurt let his shoulders fall and agreed. “Go home and get some rest. Tonight is going to be trying.”

“Stupid, you mean,” Noah called over his shoulder. “I’m sure that’s what you meant.”

Kurt smiled and it felt good. “You’ll notice I never said it wasn’t going to be that.”

They drove to Kitty’s house in Kurt’s truck later that night, their magic swirling between them in the form of heat. Noah held his hand and the clouds were thick above them. But they were bubbled by their circle’s magic. They were protected and Kurt felt a rush of adrenaline as they parked in front of Kitty’s house.

“Do you have it?” he asked her anxiously when she answered the door. She’d needed all of the time they had to finish brewing the potion.

“Of course,” she did, still sounding like she thought he was slow. She held up two bottles, one a green looking liquid and the other brown.”

Noah made a face. “What is that? And why are they different colors?”

Kitty thumped Noah on the head. “Because they’re for two different things. Honestly, did you even read the spell that Kurt wrote down for me?” Noah hadn’t been able to see the pages of the demon book other, much to Kurt’s relief. 

“No?”

Kitty looked as if she might thump him again. “The first is for the seal his mother bound onto Daniel Freedman. We have to weaken the barrier between the demon and the outside world. This will do that. Then, after Kurt’s begun the spell, we’ll have Freedman drink this one.”

“Isn’t this guy supposed to be like comatose?”

“Non-responsive,” Kurt corrected. “That’s what they classified him as. He’s awake. He’s not sick or anything. He’s just … not there. I guess it’s what happens when you have a demon locked inside you, shutting you down. He won’t choke or suffocate if we give this to him to drink. He’ll just need some help with it.”

Kitty’s hands went into her deep pockets. “Do you have the address? We should go. I want to be out of the line of fire when the witches and hunters start slaughtering each other in droves.”

“You think the vote won’t pass?” Kurt asked, certainly surprised. They hopped back in truck. It was a tight fit with Kitty in the middle, but they made it work. Kurt already had the coordinates punched into the GPS attached to his dashboard. 

Kitty scoffed, “Absolutely not.”

Noah pointed out, “They’ll come after you too, witch-girl. You’ve got magic.”

“But it’s not mine,” she reminded too sweet for it to be real. “I only borrow it, and it never lasts. That’s the reason that people like myself have to replenish it so frequently. It never lasts. By the time they get to me I’ll just be a little norm and the hunters are forbidden from hurting them. It’s their ultimate no-no.”

Maybe they would leave her alone. It was always possible, even if Kurt didn’t think it was likely. If the hunters moved to wipe them all out, they’d want all traces of magic gone. Kitty might not have had any natural magic, but she certainly knew how to get it, and she knew how to manipulate it. She was well versed in dark magic and all the things that the hunters feared. Kurt wouldn’t have been surprised if they came for her before most of the actual witches.

Daniel Freedman was housed in a special care facility called A Thousand Oaks Memorial. It was a two story building that looked pleasant enough from the outside, aside from the fact that all of the windows were bolted closed. There was a small parking lot to the side and when Kurt pulled in there were only three cars already there.

“Two nurses and a security guard,” Noah supplied for them. “I looked into the night shift.”

Kurt steadied himself, then asked, “Should we try to put them to sleep? I’ve been practicing a spell I found in my father’s book. It should knock them out for a few hours without any … lingering consequences. It would be easy to teach it to you, Noah.”

Kitty asked flatly, “And what about the high care patients who need those nurses? What if something goes wrong?”

“I didn’t think you cared,” Noah snapped.

“I don’t,” she made sure they knew. “But a patient death could drawn unwanted attention. No, we’re going the route of a glamour for sure.”

“Glamour?” Kurt asked. He’d only heard about those, and never tried one.

“Please tell me I don’t have to explain it to you.”

“What kind?” Kurt asked, trying to be patient. “One to overlook us completely?”

“Like we were never even there,” she said, holding a hand out to both boys. “Now, why don’t you take a look at what magic can really be used for.”

There was the pounding of magic against his chest and it sucked the breath out of Kurt for a second. His vision went a little blurry on the edges and he gripped the handle of his door carefully until he was more steady. “Was that it?” he asked when Kitty finished murmuring under her breath. 

“Come on,” she said, her face sort of like a blur to him, the features blending into each other and making his head hurt.

“It’s like tripping balls,” Noah laughed and it was just enough to lighten the mood for the second. “Dude!” He poked at Kurt with his finger. 

“Ignore him,” Kurt told her, but cracked his own smile. It was disorienting, and probably not all that inaccurate from what Noah had said. 

They were under a glamour. But it wasn’t that they couldn’t be seen. The security guard at the front door met his gaze for certain as the doors opened in front of them. But the magic seeped out from where they stood and his face glazed over. He’d seen them but they were still unseen and Kurt couldn’t have felt more uncomfortable. He didn’t like the way the glamour made him feel, or the norms around them look. 

Daniel was up on the second floor, at the end of the hall and with a lock on his door. 

“Is a lock really necessary?” Noah griped. His fingers twined Kurt’s and together they popped the lock with the smallest bit of magic.

It should have been creepy under any circumstances. The lights were off completely in the room but Daniel Freedman was out of bed, in the rocking chair in the corner and only lit by the fully moon outside the window. His eyes were open and unblinking and unaware. In fact aside from the rise of his chest and the tension in his shoulders, Kurt wouldn’t have even thought he was alive. He was so pale and so thin.

“Interesting,” Kitty decided, circling Daniel.

“Interesting?” Kurt thought it was anything but that. Daniel Freedman was a sad, sad looking man. “This is horrible.” He felt so ashamed for his mother’s actions.

“Do you know why he was there?” Noah asked Kurt, inching forward behind him. “That day on the boat? Do you know why he was there? He wasn’t in the circle and he was the only one who wasn’t. He wouldn’t have had a vote.”

Kurt shook his head slowly. “I never asked anyone. I never bothered to ask. I didn’t even think about it until now. Why was he there? What purpose would he have had there?”

“Interesting,” Kitty said. 

Kurt helped pull Kitty’s messenger bag over her head and began taking their ritual items out to set on a side table. “When we pull that demon out of him we’ll ask,” he assured.

“Wait.” Noah held a hand out to them, squinting at Daniel. “Kurt, take a closer look at him. Am I going crazy?”

Kurt moved to Noah’s side, eyes widening. “He’s …” Kurt leaned forward with a frightened thought. “Kitty. Look at him.”

“What?”

Kurt’s eyes searched Daniel’s boyish face. “He’s supposed to be an adult now, right? He was a teenager when the demon fought its way into him. That was fifteen years ago. He’d be at least thirty, but he doesn’t even look … he looks like he’s my age. He hasn’t aged a bit. He’s probably even younger than us.”

“Demons don’t age,” Kitty called to them.

A second later the glamour lifted from them and Kurt tried not to stagger, seeing Daniel even more clearly. “How is this possible?”

“Hosts are a reflection on the demon,” Kitty said. “He won’t age a day as long as that thing is in him. It must be freaking the norms out so much. It’s a wonder they haven’t tried to cut him up and find out why yet.”

Kurt shivered. “What will happen when we get the demon out? Will he stay young? Will he start aging?”

Noah cut in, “Or will he go poof like a mummy?”

It was Kurt’s turn to hit Noah over the back of the head. “It’s been fifteen years, Noah. Not fifteen hundred.”

Kitty only shrugged. “Can’t say for sure what’ll happen, but he’ll probably just start to age normally. In a lot of ways, it’ll be a blessing for him. He won’t just have fifteen years cut off his life.”

Kurt stood to his full height. “Are you almost ready? I want to do this fast, before any of the nurses make their rounds. Noah, I think it’s time for you and I to make sure no sound gets out of this room. Just in case.”

By the time he and Noah had cast a sound bubble around the room, Kitty was ready to go. She handed the green vial over to Noah and said, “Find the seal mark and rub this over it. Kurt, let me see the spell you’ll be saying again. Our timing needs to be perfect.”

Noah knelt in front of Daniel and pushed his sleeves up carefully. “The things I do for you, Kurt. I’m basically feeling this guy up.”

“It’s probably on his arm,” Kitty said dully. “And don’t pretend I haven’t caught you checking guys out before.”

Noah scoffed. “I happen to simply appreciate hotness, and hotness isn‘t gender exclusive. Now where is this thing? I don’t see it.”

It was actually on his wrist, and that was convenient enough for Kurt. He unfolded the paper he’d recopied the spell onto with more attention to detail than he’d done for Kitty and cleared his throat, saying, “I’m ready.”

Kitty, with her own copy, positioned them around Daniel in the form of a perfect triad, burning sage in one hand and a white tipped feather in the other. “Go,” she said, using the feather to fan the herb.

“Noah,” Kurt turn the paper enough toward him, taking his hand. “Here we go.”

It was the longest spell Kurt had ever attempted, and the most complex. After invoking the rites of nature Kitty splashed rosemary smelling water onto Daniel and it was Kurt’s cue to start the next verse of the spell.

They were nearly through it, Kitty mumbling words of her own that Kurt couldn’t hear when the room seemed to bend around them. It was such a shock Kurt felt sucker punched, and he was disoriented as the magic turned his knees to jelly, and his stomach rolled. He nearly dropped the spell from his fingers as the color bled out of his vision, but he fought on, reading aloud with Noah, “The one whom is shrouded in darkness, let him be let into the light,” and flinched when Daniel roared something inhumane, arching up out of the chair. 

“Keep going!” Kitty yelled. The lights were cracking around them, the window too, and the metal frame to the bed across the room was twisted in a sick and scary way. “Don’t stop no matter what you do!” A gust of wind swirled around them, knocking items to the ground and overturning chairs.

“We can do it!” Noah urged, jabbing a finger at the last part of the spell. “Go for it, Kurt!”

He was losing himself in the magic. As everything bent around them, Kurt stopped breathing, and he almost forgot himself. But as he paused, confused and startled, Noah’s magic--the magic they shared on a impossibly intimate level, came barreling into him, righting up on his feet and strengthen him. Kurt could have wept with joy, for Noah and for the anchor that he was. It was just enough to get him going again.

There was a verse in Latin that Kurt tripped through, Noah sounding no better, and then something that sounded like a plea, and all the while Kitty fanned them with more sage and then marked Daniel’s face with lines of pale oil, a mixture which Kurt knew she’d finished only that morning. 

“What now?” Noah demanded. “And holy fuck!” Plaster from the ceiling rained down on them. 

Daniel was up from his chair now, arms and legs and head snapping around in an unnatural way, eyes flicking around malevolently with something that wasn’t human.

“The potion!” Kitty threw it to Kurt as the window shattered out from behind them. The wind blew in with such ferocity that Kurt nearly dropped the glass container. 

“You’re going to die, you little whore!” the demon seethed. He made for Kurt, who stood terrified at the embodied monster in front of him.

“Kurt!” Noah caught Daniel from behind, barely having the strength to hold tight as the possessed man jerked around. “Give it to him!”

“Right!” Kurt narrowly avoided snapping teeth as the demon screamed and hissed at him, cursing and threatening and trying to hurt him. The bed finally twisted up into a ball and went flying at them just as Kurt tipped the bottle of brown liquid up against Daniel’s mouth for him to drink.

“Get down!” Kitty shouted, barely managing to duck in time.

Kurt hit the floor hard, but Noah wasn’t so lucky. The edge of the balled frame clipped him and sent him spinning to the ground with a flash of blood and a high groan.

“Noah!”

Everything crashed to a halt. 

Then the demon stood.

“Did you think,” it laughed, “that you could command me back to the earth?” There was a low grumble to his voice, sharp and dangerous and it struck right into Kurt’s core, making his legs feel like they were boneless. “Little witches.” He cast Kitty a look to where she was still recovering on the floor. “And a pretender.”

“That’s not your body!” Kurt shouted, pushing himself up onto his arms. “You get out of there right now!”

“Now my body?” Daniel’s charming looks were gone as the demon had control, contorting into something that even looked evil, if Kurt could be a proper judge. “But your mommy wanted me to have it.”

Kurt froze, arms giving out. “My …”

The demon knelt down next to him and Kurt couldn’t move. He could feel the barest hint of magic from Daniel, the magic that he’d been born with, but there was something else clouding his senses. He could only feel the darkness of the demon and it was like losing a sense. Maybe all of them.

“I can smell your blood,” the demon taunted, “son of Murdock.”

Kurt steeled himself. “She may have put you in there, but she meant to take you out, too. She meant to do it and kill you.”

“But she’s dead now?” the demon’s head cocked, gaining so much information in such a short time that Kurt regretted speaking at all. “Pity. I would have liked to rip her spine from her body at my own discretion. Still, a son isn’t a complete loss.”

He could see Kitty more clearly the closer the demon leaned to him. She was searching the floor frantically for something, but he could tell what. He could only hope she needed it to help them, and that she’d find it fast.

The demon tisked at him, catching his chin in fingers that were so chilly they burned. “Tell me, son of Murdock, do you believe yourself worthy of the blood?”

“Why does it matter?” Kurt spat. He tried to wrench his body way but he was held in place so easily by the few fingers on his chin. “Why do you care?”

“Because you are the last,” the demon said. “I can sense this.”

Was he really the last? Of all the children that had been born to all the witches, and all of the unions that had followed after … he was last? It didn’t seem possible, and demons never told the truth. Yet they held all the answers. The contradiction was unsettling.

“I’m Murdock enough to kill you.” He couldn’t access his circle power, Noah was too far away and their bond was too strained after the spell, but the dark magic in him was only sitting on the surface. He was reached for it when the demon slammed him flat on the ground, hand around his neck so hard that he felt like his windpipe had been crushed. It wasn’t that he was gasping for hair. He couldn’t even try.

“I have killed many of your blood,” the demon said gleefully.

“How?” Kurt choked out, the hand loosening enough to let him wheeze. “You’ve been--”

“Locked away for fifteen years?” The demon’s free hand came up to stroke Kurt’s face tenderly. “Locked into the mind of a sniveling, boorish child’s mind?” The stroking turned violent as the demon’s nails dug into his flesh, drawing blood and making Kurt cry out. “By your filthy mother.”

Kurt kicked out, trying to buck up, trying anything. 

The demon looked lost for a minute, unsure how to continue, but he told Kurt, “My brothers have killed many Murdocks. Many who thought they could summon us. Many who thought they could control us. Not one has lived to see their deed done. My brothers and I are the same. They are me. I am them. One begins and the other ends.”

Kitty surged to her feet. “End this!”

She had two dark stones in her hands, stones that looked like obsidian, but when she struck the together they emitted bright green light that morphed brighter, and blinded even Kurt, as if he were looking into the sun. Kurt clenched his eyes shut and the demon roared in pain.

There was a sudden and agonizing sound of the furniture slamming upward into the ceiling, and Kurt fought not to go with it, his feet lifting up at the surge of magic. Only it felt nothing like any of the magic Kurt had ever felt before. Usually each witch he encountered had a distinct feel all their own. Witches like Cooper and Blaine shared a magically residue that felt similar because thy were family, but there was still a difference. Everyone and every kind of magic felt different. Unique. But this magic, whatever Kitty had done, it wasn’t unique. It was something messy and blended and too meshed together to even begin to pull apart.

She wasn’t natural. It occurred to Kurt then what she’d said before. She wasn’t a natural witch. She had no legacy and no bloodline. She only had the knowledge that she bartered with to gain magic from. She took payment in the form of witches from dozens of difference sources all the time, and that was what he was feeling now. He was feeling tiny pieces of hundreds of witches. It faded over time she’d said, but she still had some. And she’d used it against the demon.

She might have hurt Daniel, whatever was left of Daniel, but he wasn’t their top priority anymore. They needed to contain the demon now. They needed to put it down, even if the host couldn’t be saved. They had to, or who knew how many people it would hurt before the end.

“What the fuck was that?” Noah demanded, reaching out for Kurt.

“A spark,” Kitty explained, breathing hard as it was safe to look. “And all the magic I had left.”

“Um … guys?” Noah looked around. “Where’s the demon?”

“Kitty!”

He screamed for her. He lunged for her, but couldn’t carry himself across to her side fast enough. He did everything he could to get to her and to save her and to stop anyone else from getting hurt.

But the demon was faster. 

The demon had her by the neck before Kurt had even called out for her. It whispered to her, tongue loose and twisted, “Neat trick, temptress. But foolhardy.”

Kurt screamed this throat dry as the crack of Kitty’s neck sounded in the room around them. His fingers dug into his palms until his nails drew blood and he stretched out with anguish. But he never let his eyes leave the demon. He never looked away from the satisfied smirk on the demon’s face.

“That’s the face,” the demon said, thrilled as he nudged Kitty’s body to the side with his foot. “That’s the look on your mother’s face when she realized I was in here.” He tapped his own chest and sauntered on. “Such surprise, and revulsion. She looked at me with those same eyes when I killed the first witch, and as my brothers began slaughtering the rest.”

“It was personal,” Kurt ground out. Between the demons and the Murdocks. He could read it on the demon’s face. They had history. Bad history.

“You witches love to make it that way.”

Kurt nodded. “It is personal now. And I’m the last with Murdock blood. So I’m going to finish it.”

“Finish it?” The demon laughed boisterously. “With a one third of your circle?”

Noah’s hand came down hard on Kurt’s shoulder and Kurt could tell Noah was steadying himself, using Kurt to keep upright. He told Kurt, “You do what you have to. Kill this bastard, Kurt. You use what your momma gave you.”

He tried not to let himself lose control. It would have been easy to, of course. There was always the promise of more power and more strength if he let go completely, but he held tight to the control that he did have and slammed the demon back up against the far wall with his magic, shaking as he concentrated.

“Is that the best you can do?” the demon demanded, pushing back with a wave of his own magic. No. It wasn’t his magic. Demons didn’t have magic. It was Daniel’s magic he was accessing. And from deep in his core, the kind of magic that witches weren’t typically capable of even touching without a circle. It also wasn’t anything like the kind of magic Kurt had, but it was enough to catch Kurt off guard.

Kurt flared up again , this time with more magic. The furniture of the room was seemingly glued to the ceiling, upside down and settled precariously, but Kurt used his magic to rip at the nearest chair and fling it at the demon with every bit of strength he could. “I’ve got a lot more!”

Noah was pushing circle magic at him. It took a moment for Kurt to realize that. He was feeding Kurt the pure circle magic that they has so that he could keep going with his own magic without getting tired. It must have been draining, but Noah hadn’t let up for even a second. 

“You’re still such child.” Magic boiled up, sending rivets of cracks along the wall behind the demon from the floor to the ceiling, and then there was a boom of pressure in the room. Kurt felt a wetness under his nose, dripping down to his lips. He lost his grip on his magic completely, and nearly lost consciousness. 

“What the fuck is this?” Noah demanded, holding his own head. 

“I don’t know!” Kurt could taste the blood on his tongue.

The demon asked playfully, “Do you know why the hunters are so desperate to wipe you Murdocks out, Kurt? Do you?” It didn’t wait for an answer. It only laughed and said, “Because they’re terrified of you. And I’ll bet especially you, Kurt. Do you know why, little Murdock?”

“I will kill you,” Kurt seethed at him, gasping for air as he choked on blood.

In what felt like the nastiest way ever, the demon dropped a kiss to the top of Kurt’s head. “Because, little witch, with the proper training, the kind your mother had, and the kind she would have given you, the kind that I know about, you can burst blood vessels in the heads of the people around you without even thinking twice. The Murdock line is especially skilled in their mastery of dark magic. You’re such a special boy, Kurt.”

Kurt squeezed his eyes closed. “Don’t you ever say that to me again.”

The demon ducked down to press his mouth chastely against Kurt’s, taking untold pleasure at the way Kurt slammed himself way. It told him, “You can stop their hearts, and crush their lungs and kill them with the amount of magic that you have in your pinky. That little witch, is half the amount I’m going to use to use to kill you.”

Kurt choked on the blood that was filling his mouth, and he could see some on the demon’s lips from when they’d kissed. There was a pounding in his ears that blanketed out almost everything else.

“I am my host,” the demon said. “He is me. And we were your mother’s genus custos.” He whispered to Kurt, “And I know her secrets. The ones you don’t even know exist.”

“Genus …” He gasped for air. “What?”

“I will kill you now,” the demon said. “But you aren’t worthy of the name Murdock. It took my brothers twice as much to cut your mother down, as it will take me to kill you.”

He would have died. He really would have. And he probably should have. But as his eyes slid shut, his hand reached blindly for anything he could use to give one last fight. His fingers his something smooth but hard and he swung blindly, thinking of his parents and of Sebastian, and then to Kitty and Noah and everyone his foolishness had let down.

“No!” Noah screamed.

He should have died. But he didn’t.

“Wake up.”

Fragile fingers were shaking his arm. That was what Kurt was aware of first. And it was barely a shake at that. But it was just enough to jar him out of his dreamless sleep and back to the real world. 

Kurt blinked his eyes open to the sight of the demon.

“Kurt?”

It wasn’t the demon. No. Impossibly enough Kurt knew he was looking at Daniel Freedman. Daniel’s green eyes were deep like emeralds and watery like he’d been crying recently. The teen, who was likely younger than Kurt was, was laying on his side with his arm awkwardly bent in front of him, and he looked weak and tired. 

“Daniel?”

“I’m …” Daniel took a shuddering breath. “Everyone calls me Danny.”

“What happened.” When Kurt talked there was an odd pull to his face and it was only after he touched the skin around his nose and mouth that he realized it was dry blood. “The demon?”

“You broke my arm,” Daniel said, looking pointedly down to his limp arm. “You really hurt it. It’s all splintered up.”

Just to the side Kurt could see the object he must have used to hit the demon. It was a broken, rough leg piece of the chair had cracked and rebounded over to him when Kurt had launched it at the demon earlier. 

“Sorry,” Kurt said dryly. “But I don’t understand. Where did the demon go?”

“I was going to kill you,” Daniel said, eyes scrunching closed as he pounded a fist with his good arm onto the carpet ground. “I couldn’t control myself, but I knew I was going to do it.”

“It wasn’t you,” Kurt argued. “It was the demon in you.”

“But your friend,” Daniel said, surprising Kurt, “he stopped me at the last second. I never saw him coming. He wasn’t even in my line of sight. He hit me and we wrestled and I got hurt some more.”

Kurt reached out tentatively towards Daniel. The window in the room was completely shattered but the bright moonlight was streaming in and Kurt could see the wet, red stain on the side of Daniel’s pajama top. 

“What then?” Kurt asked.

Daniel shook his head. “I don’t know. I just … woke up here. With you.” He choked out a sob. “I woke up. Finally.”

Kurt, with a heavy, pained groaned, pushed himself up to his knees. “I have to find Noah. If the demon took him--”

“Not like you think.”

Kurt tried not to look at Kitty’s vacant, lifeless eyes as they stared at him from where she’d rolled. “What does that mean?”

“I needed a better host. I needed a new body.”

The door to the room splintered as Kurt demanded with rage, “The demon is inside him?”

“Calm yourself,” Daniel said, rolling to his back. He looked so wise in his eyes, but still so tired and beaten. “I don’t know how many times Lizzy told me the same thing. She’d say, Danny, you let your magic get the best of you. You let it take control too easily.”

Kurt couldn’t have cared less what he said. “I have to go after him.” He got to his feet, stumbled and went down. But then got up again, determined and angry. “It can’t have him. It can’t have Noah!”

The door in the room blew away completely. 

“Your mom is going to be so mad at you for losing control.”

“My mom is dead” Kurt spat at him. “She’s been dead for fifteen years.”

Suddenly ashen, Daniel demanded, “She’s not dead!”

“She is.” Kurt struggled to the door. “She died in the accident. She died when I was a baby. My dad raised me.”

“No!” Daniel struggled up too, one hand braced to his side. “She’s not. I don’t believe you. I’d be able to feel it! We’re linked, Kurt. More intimately than you are with your circle. She can’t be dead.”

“I’m going after Noah.” Kurt braced himself against the doorframe of the room. “And I’m going to kill that demon if I have to die trying.”

He’d let this happen. Kurt knew it was his fault. He’d brought Noah in on his plans to help Daniel Freedman, and he hadn’t stood his ground even when he’d known it was too dangerous. It was his fault Noah was in danger. It was his fault the demon had hopped hosts. 

“Your friend is gone,” Daniel said breathlessly.

“I am my parent’s son,” Kurt snapped, “and I will get him back.”

“You don’t even know where he went.”

Kurt turned back to Daniel. He wanted to yell at him. Kurt wanted to say that Daniel held some of the blame, or just vent his frustrations on him, but in the end it was no more Daniel’s fault than Noah’s. And Daniel was still just a kid. He was supposed to be an adult, but really he was a kid. 

“I’ll get some help for you,” Kurt promised, feeling steadier on his feet. “I’ll go find someone.” The magic that had been in the room before, both Daniel’s and Kurt’s with Noah’s, was gone. Only the echo was left, and that meant the spells that had been holding back the sound and anything else that might have alerted other people, was gone. “Why isn’t anyone else here yet?” There was no way any of the three people working that night could have missed the state of the room now. Someone should have come by on their rounds already.

“I bet it killed them,” Daniel said, head dipping forward so his bangs fell into his line of sight. “It’s been so long for him. Maybe the demon did it for the practice, or just for fun.”

Kurt tipped his head back on the door and tried to think. “Where would the demon go? With a new host and fifteen years of time to think, where would it go?”

“To get revenge.” Daniel seemed sure of it. “That’s all it thought of. That’s all it cared about. Revenge against Lizzy.”

“My mom?” Daniel nodded. “Then why didn’t it kill me? She’s dead and I’m the last way to get at her. I was knocked out and it had a whole new host to use. Why didn’t the demon kill me when it had the chance?”

Daniel shivered against the cold weather blowing in on them. “There are things much worse than death. That guy Noah was your friend, right? Part of your circle? Which means he knows things about you.”

“Yes. Why?”

“Because demons are smart, Kurt.” Daniel stopped, like he was really looking at Kurt for the first time. “You were just a baby the last time I saw you. Lizzy let me hold you, but I think your dad was scared I’d drop you so he hovered around me until she made him stop.”

Daniel was onto something, and Kurt snapped his fingers. “Focus. What about Noah?”

“Oh. Sorry. It’s still hard to think.” Daniel grimaced again as his arm shifted. “Demons are smart, like I said. If it wanted to hurt your mom and she was still alive, it would have gone for you. But now that it can’t get at her, it wants to hurt you instead. Think, Kurt. What could it do to hurt you? Worse than it actually just killing you?”

Kurt had to hold tight to the frame of the door. It hit him all at once. “Sebastian. He’s gone after Sebastian! Noah knows how much I love Sebastian, and now the demon does, too.”

Kurt!” Daniel called after him, but Kurt was already off, running awkwardly down the hall as he fought to keep his legs under him and his balance level. 

He had to get to Sebastian. Of course the demon had gone after Sebastian. Kurt loved his uncle but nothing like how he loved Sebastian. Kurt didn’t think he could stand to lose Sebastian. And Noah knew that. Noah knew that Sebastian was his world. Without even having to say it, Noah knew that Sebastian was the only future Kurt saw.

“Oh god, please,” he breathed out as he rushed past the bloodied bodies of the two nurses in the hallway and the guard by the front door, caught between the sliding glass that bumped him every couple of seconds as the doors tried to close. “Don’t let me be too late.”

He nearly broke his key off as he slid it into his ignition. The engine turned over and he was gasping for air then, crying unabashedly and barely breathing. Nothing else mattered. There was nothing else that mattered in the world except getting to Sebastian. He’d move heaven and earth to get there in time. He hadn’t been able to save Noah or Kitty, but the demon wouldn’t hurt Sebastian.

To stop the demon from killing Sebastian, Kurt was willing to let go of his control completely. He would give in to every bit of magic he had raging in side him. He’d become a monster. He’d become dark. He’d do whatever it took.

But he would save Sebastian. And he would kill the demon.


	20. Chapter 20

Chapter Nineteen:

 

His fingers felt too large and too clumsy as he pleaded with his phone, “Dial. Come on, dial.” He’d tried twice before, running a red light and nearly hitting a car as the result, to access his phonebook and simply select Sebastian’s name. But everything felt numb, and Sebastian was so far down the list that he’d misdialed two different people, and the tears in his eyes were making it hard to see.

Not to mention it had started to rain again. It was only drizzling, but he needed his windshield wipers for it, and as he pressed his foot down harder on the pedal, visibility was less than normal.

Q was higher up in the alphabet than S. And Quinn was supposed to be staying with Sebastian for their mutual protection. She was obviously the better choice.

She answered on the second ring with a confused tone in her voice. “Kurt? Is everything okay?”

He could hear Sebastian in the background demanding, “Is that Kurt? What’s going on?”

They were safe. At least for the moment, they were safe. He let himself breathe as he realized of course they were safe. With the rain they were a good fifty minutes away from the care facility that Daniel Freedman had been at. And Kurt, for as fast as he’d been speeding, was still about thirty minutes out. Less if he pushed it above a hundred, but there was a weird rattle to the truck when he approached ninety and Kurt couldn’t exactly pull over to check what the problem could be.

“Quinn! Quinn listen to me! Put Sebastian on the phone! It’s an emergency and you aren’t safe!”

A second later Sebastian demanded, “What’s going on? Are you okay?”

Kurt laughed dryly. “Am I okay? Oh, god, Sebastian. I’ve messed it all up. I’m so sorry. I thought I knew what I was doing. And I didn’t. Kitty is dead. It’s in Noah, and it’s coming for you.”

“Hey. Hey. Calm down. What’s going on? Who’s dead? Kurt?”

Kurt ignored the rattle in the truck and pushed it faster. “I lied to you. I lied to almost the entire circle about where I was tonight, and what was going on.”

“Tell me.”

Kurt gripped the phone tightly. “I let a demon out tonight, Sebastian. And it’s in Noah.” He did what he could to explain the plan he and Noah had concocted together in order to free the demon from Daniel Freedman. He gave what information he could about Kitty, and when he was on speakerphone, he told the both of them about how they’d lost control of the ritual, or maybe how they’d never had any of it to begin with.

“It killed her,” Kurt told them again. “It killed Kitty and it was going to kill me to get revenge against my mom for locking it away for fifteen years. I got … I was knocked out, but I guess it needed a new host and it jumped to Noah. There is a demon in Noah and it wants to hurt me in the worst way possible.”

“Why didn’t it just kill you then?” Quinn demanded. He could hear her shutting windows and closing shutters and locking everything down like he’d told them to do before he’d even started telling them what had happened. Her voice was distant, but he could understand her just fine.

Twenty minutes away now, he reasoned, jetting around an SUV as he pushed ninety-five. 

“Demons know what their hosts do. And Noah knows that the best way to hurt me is to hurt the one person I love more than anything else in this world.”

Sebastian said, “So he’s coming here.”

“And he has a head start on me!” The thought was overly distressing. “Maybe ten or fifteen minutes, which means he’s going to be there before me, even if he had to take the time to jack a car to get there. He’s going to be there any minute and you have to be ready. You have to hold out until I get there.”

“We’re capable,” Quinn said, her voice louder this time. “We’ve got our circle magic.”

He heard Sebastian tell her, “Here, take my phone. Go call Blaine and Rachel and Cooper. They need to get here now. We need to have more of the circle here. All of it as soon as possible.”

Kurt barely waited until he heard the sound of her footsteps receding before he said, “He’s going to kill you, Sebastian. He knows that if I lost you, I would lose myself. It wouldn’t just be breaking our circle. It would be taking me out of the fight for good.”

“Don’t say that.”

“What would I have left to fight for?” Kurt demanded. “I hope you don’t think I’m going into this potential war between hunters and witches because I have some noble sense of justice. No. I’m doing it because I’m selfish, and I love you and I’ll be damned if I let anyone take away my future with you. I don’t know if I’m meant to be player in this mess at all, but if I lost you it wouldn’t even be an option. If I lost you I’d let the hunters and the witches kill each other to the last one, and I wouldn’t care one bit.”

Sebastian questioned, “You don’t think that maybe there isn’t a bigger goal here than you and me? We already established that you’re really important, and we haven’t even begun to understand why. You can’t afford to make those kinds of brazen, sweeping statements. I’m not worth you losing yourself over.”

“I’m not allowed?” He was so angry and scared he could have punched a hole through the windshield. “I’m not allowed to love you?”

“I didn’t say that. I only mean you’re not allowed to put one person above a bigger cause, or countless other people. That’s what I know.”

“I know I don’t care.” Kurt told him emphatically, “I don’t care and it’s wrong. But all that matters, and all I know is that you are more important to me than anyone else, and whether you agree or not, it’s still the truth. And that still makes you a target.”

The line was quiet and Kurt was worried, but then Sebastian said, “We’re going to talk more about this at a later date, okay? Because I don’t plan on dying tonight, and we have to talk about how we’re going to get that demon out of Noah. God, Kurt, what were you thinking? Messing with demons? Didn’t you learn anything from your mother?”

“I was trying to fix her mistakes!”

“But that’s not your burden,” Sebastian said, voice thin. “You don’t need to atone for the mistakes of your mother. If that was the truth for me, I’d never have enough time to make up for all the wrong choices my mom has made. Children aren’t responsible for their parents. They’re just not. I understand why you felt the way you did, but you can’t tell me you didn’t know, deep down inside, that it was wrong to mess with a demon.”

He was so ashamed. He was more ashamed of his actions than anything he’d ever done in his life. “I know, but I had to try. I just had to.”

“And now it’s in Puckerman.”

Kurt blinked through is tears. “I’ll get it out of him. I swear I will. I won’t let it have him.”

“I don’t think you have trouble getting demons out of people, Kurt,” Sebastian sighed. “Just don’t drive yourself off the road getting here. Quinn and I can hold the line.”

But Kurt thought about how much power the demon had oozed. He’d been strong, not only physically, but magically as well. He’d been able to push back through Kurt’s magic with only his host’s, but it was more than that. Maybe demons didn’t have any magic naturally, but they knew how to manipulate the magic they did have access to trough their hosts. Kurt knew he’d been outclassed and overpowered in a laughably easy way. If the demon came at Quinn and Sebastian with everything it had, they wouldn’t stand a chance.

“I’m coming,” Kurt swore. The pedal was to the ground, the truck was shaking, and it still wasn’t enough.

He took out about five feet of lawn, half of a fence, the Smythe mailbox, and the recycling bin that had been out front when he slammed on the breaks and skidded to a stop. He was probably out of the car before it had stopped completely, his hand jerking the emergency break all the way back.

“Sebastian!”

He actually tripped on the rain slicked lawn, the rain having turned to a settled mist by now. He fell to his knees as the front door slammed open and the felt the water soaking through to his skin. But he pushed through it, hauling himself up to his feet as he saw Sebastian. Sebastian, who was unhurt and looking concerned, but most importantly still breathing.

“He isn’t here yet?” Kurt asked, practically toppling into Sebastian’s arms. “Noah? The demon?”

Quinn, who’d only been a half second behind Sebastian, pulled him into a tight hug. “No. He never showed.”

“But he would have beaten me,” Kurt breathed out, one arm around Quinn’s thin shoulder and another caught up between himself and Sebastian as the taller teen held him close. “There’s no way he wouldn’t have gotten here first.” As he’d driven there hadn’t been any choice but to hang up the phone with Sebastian. Sebastian might have been Kurt’s most beloved, but there was also his uncle to think of. He couldn’t risk his uncle coming home premature, if the option was even realistic by the way he’d left. But Kurt had felt the urge to call his phone anyway, and when he’d gotten the voicemail he’d begged his uncle to stay away. He couldn’t explain much in the short message, but had been able to tell him there was a demon on the loose, and that Kurt loved him too much to see him get hurt. 

“He’s not here,” Quinn said once more.

“You’re so stupid,” Sebastian said, no real bite to his words. He took Kurt’s face between his hands and kissed him almost harshly. “A demon? You wanted to break a seal and let a demon out?”

“To kill it,” Kurt said, taking them both by the hand and getting them back in the house. “To kill it, Sebastian. I’ve got an incineration incantation. It would have burned the thing to a crisp, but there was so much happening all at once, and I didn’t even see the demon jump hosts.”

“But you thought it was coming here,” Quinn reminded. 

Kurt nodded. “It wants to get back at my mother for sealing it away for fifteen years. And since she’s dead, I’m the next best thing. I thought the demon would come here, to get at me through Sebastian, but I guess not. I … I don’t know. I’m confused.”

There was the cool kiss of Quinn’s lips to his cheek as she said, “You’re all cut up. You’re bleeding, Kurt.”

He took a minute to look at himself for the first time, and finally the adrenaline was starting to wear off. He had nicks and cuts all along his exposed skin, and bruising extensively along his arms and his neck.

“It looks like someone tried to choke you.” Sebastian probed his neck gently, voice rising as he demanded, “Did someone put their hands on you?”

“A demon,” Kurt choked out, palming at his eyes. “Oh god.”

Sebastian’s hands stretched out flat on Kurt’s back and he asked him in a quiet murmur, “Why do you like to go off and get into trouble so much without me there to watch your back? You drive me crazy.”

“Sorry.” Kurt pressed his forehead into Sebastian’s shoulder. “I’m kind of thickheaded.”

“The important thing is that you’re alright,” Quinn said. “We’re okay for right now.”

“Noah isn’t.” And if Noah wasn’t here, Kurt didn’t know where to find him.

“We will get to him too,” Quinn said. 

Sebastian took Kurt’s wrist in hand and turned it over, fingers following the rune marks up his arm. “What’s this?”

“Runes,” Kurt explained. “We all had them. To keep the demon out of us. To make sure it couldn’t jump hosts in the middle of the spell.”

Quinn frowned. “If you all had them, how did it end up in Puck?”

The whole night was hazy for Kurt, and only getting more difficult to recall as more time passed, but he recounted, “It was Noah’s job to rub the salve on the sealing rune my mother put on Daniel. The mix was supposed to disrupt the magic binding the rune and break it. It’s possible … I guess it really is possible that Noah got some on him. He would have only needed to get a little on one of the runes he wore to break the entire thing. It could have happened. Kitty told him to be careful with it.”

“I’m glad you’re okay,” Sebastian said, kissing the corner of his mouth. “I’m so thankful.”

Quinn tapped her chin thought fully as she questioned aloud, “You thought the demon would come here, right? For revenge?”

“That’s what Daniel said,” Kurt told her, then specified, “well, I knew he’d be looking for revenge, but it was Daniel who told me that the demon knows everything the host does. It only makes sense it would come here, right?” 

“Where else could it have gone?” she wondered.

There was something else, Kurt remembered. Something Daniel had said more than once, and tried to get him to believe and take seriously and not forget so easily. 

“Demons are smart.”

“Huh?” Sebastian looked away from Quinn and to Kurt. “What was that?”

“Demons are smart,” he repeated, his gut churning. “And coming here, no matter how efficient a way to break me, is too simple. It’s not smart, and demons are smart.”

“But if I were locked up for fifteen years, I’d be looking for revenge,” Sebastian said, and Quinn nodded.

With a furrowed brow, Kurt asked, “Where is everyone else?”

“I talked to Rachel,” Quinn said. “We told them about there being a demon running around out there. Cooper said for them to stay put. That they couldn’t risk one of them being used as leverage or worse. Until you got here, they were to stay put. Then we were supposed to go to them as soon as we knew you were safe.”

For just a moment, Kurt took a deep breath. The tension in his body was nearly unbearable, and not even Sebastian’s warm hand settled between his shoulder blades could help.

Quinn and Sebastian were talking about getting the peroxide and bandages when Kurt startled them by stating, “The last time the demons ran free, after my mom summoned them, they disrupted the vote and nearly caused a war between the hunters and witches, right? My mom managed to contain the situation, and the boat sank with all the proof on it. The demons always planned to put the two groups against each other so they wouldn’t ever see the demons coming.”

“Okay,” Sebastian eased out.

“There’s another vote tonight!” Kurt burst out. “And there’s a demon from the first great betrayal, that’s what our parents were calling it because they didn’t know any better, who survived. I know where he went. I know where he took Noah’s body. He’s going to stop that vote. He’s going to ruin it again, only there isn’t anything to sink. There isn’t any way to cover it up and settle things down. He’s gone to make sure the war starts tonight.”

Kurt raced out of the door, towards his truck, calling back for them to follow him.

“I don’t get it!” Quinn called, piling in on the other side with Sebastian close behind her. “How does that hurt Kurt? How is that getting revenge?”

Kurt shook his head and started the truck the second they were all in. “Revenge is sloppy. It’s emotionally driven and careless and it would never be a demon’s goal. A demon would never put revenge above a goal or cause. And if this vote goes wrong tonight, if the fighting starts again, we’re all dead eventually. The demon is going to finish what it started fifteen years ago, and it has an even bigger head start on us than we thought.”

Sebastian had to grip the handrail up by his head as the truck swung wide. “Slow down!” he said, arm out to brace Quinn. “We don’t even know where that meeting is taking place. No one would tell us.”

“Cooper knows,” Kurt said, glancing at him. “Cooper knows exactly where it is. He just didn’t want to say. So we’re going to talk to him and if we have to, we’re going to make him tell us.”

“Make him?” Sebastian choked out. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

“He held back from us!” Kurt ground out. “And so now we have to drive all the way across town to get him, so that we can chase after Noah and be even more behind him.”

Eyes narrowing, Sebastian said, “And you unsealed a demon that got into our circle brother. I don’t think we have the right to judge other people right now. And it doesn’t help, anyway.”

Nails tapping against her knee, Quinn asked, “He said the meeting was taking place on hallow ground, right?”

Sebastian gave a curt nod. “But that doesn’t help. There are a million places in this town that could be considered hallowed. And even more just outside of town. We’d never be able to guess the right one.”

“No,” she agreed, “but there is a place in town actually called Hallow Ground. Well, Hallow Ground Cathedral and Hallow Ground Cemetery. I’ve got a great grandmother buried there. It’s about ten miles out of town, and it’s so hidden by the forest that if you don’t know exactly where it is, you’d never find it.”

Sharply Kurt demanded, “You know where it is?”

“Go right up there, all the way down and out of town. I’ll tell you when to turn again.”

“I’m calling Cooper,” Sebastian said, ignoring the look Kurt gave him. “Don’t make that face at me. He knew he couldn’t tell us. Think, Kurt. He knew he couldn’t trust us, so he told us without actually telling us. We just didn’t realize it. And if we’re going to do this, if we’re going after a demon in our circle brother’s body, we need the rest of the circle there.”

“Sorry,” Kurt said, meaning it. His eyes slid back to the road as he drove. This was it, he realized. This was the end.

Quinn had been right. The road was impossible to see from the paved highway that ran through the forest. If he hadn’t been directed to the turnoff he would have missed it completely. As it was he had to hit the breaks hard and back it up a bit when Quinn pointed out a dark road that barely passed with the definition. 

“We need a plan,” Sebastian said, inching forward on his seat. “We can’t just go running in there like a bunch of idiots.”

Kurt couldn’t look away from the road. When he’d run over Sebastian’s mailbox he’d busted out one of his headlights, and the road they were driving on was little more than dirt and mulch. If he wasn’t extremely careful he knew he’d drive them off the side of the road, and he knew speeding wasn’t an option.

“We could wait for the others,” Quinn suggested. “They’re only fifteen minutes behind us.”

“No.” Kurt braked hard at a sudden, sharp turn up ahead. “We can’t wait for them.”

“We can’t just go blazing in there without at …” Sebastian trailed off and leaned forward in the cab, breaking his train of thought to ask, “What time is it?”

Quinn fumbled for her phone for a minute, then said, “About ten after twelve. And the summit was supposed to start at midnight, right?”

“Then why is the sun coming up?”

Kurt could only see half of what they could. “What do you mean the sun is coming up?”

“Move over.” Quinn pushed at Sebastian, practically climbing over him as she rolled down the window. “Hold the car steady, Kurt.” Then she was out of the window bodily, Sebastian hanging onto her legs as she got the best look out of all of them.

“What do you see?” Sebastian called to her, the wind whipping through the truck. “Quinn?”

“It’s not a sunrise!” She angled herself back in, falling down onto Sebastian. She reached across for Kurt and gripped his bicep hard. “Drive faster, Kurt. It’s not the sun. Something is on fire.”

That something turned out to be the cathedral. There was a sprawling cemetery behind the building, but Kurt couldn’t look past the burning to notice much more. Instead he focused on the flames licking up the side of the building, and the screaming he could hear. There were bodies scattered around the ground. 

“We’re too late,” Quinn said forlorn. 

Kurt pressed in close to Sebastian for half a minute. “He’s already here.”

It wasn’t that the demon was already there. It was more that it had used its substantial lead on them to do exactly the same thing that it and its fellow demons had managed fifteen years ago. The talks were over, and the vote forgotten. All that mattered were the two hunters hacking into a witch with blades, and the three witches that were linked in arms chanting with such power that Kurt knew they had to be the elders. Their targets, the two hunters attacking the lone witch, where instantly covered in boils that split open and began to melt away the skin on their faces.

“We stick together,” Sebastian said, and the way he took Kurt’s hand left no room for debate. “And we find our brother.”

They’d knock him out, Kurt supposed. A well placed hit to the head would knock him out, and Kurt would have enough time to draw the demon out. Or maybe bind the demon into Noah like his mother had to Daniel. Whichever seemed the most likely for success. They’d deal with Noah more seriously when they weren’t in danger of being attacked. 

It was like going into battle for Kurt. Going into battle like a Siamese twin … with a third body for good measure. They had to work together to fight their way over to the cathedral, and that meant channeling their magic between them without overloading each other. It also meant focusing without much time to ready themselves. They’d never even attempted something so challenging before.

But Kurt couldn’t let go of either of them. He couldn’t risk it, even if it was more than a challenge to have to work in tandem with two other people.

When a hunter charged from the left, Quinn directed, “Blow him away with wind!” Kurt had just enough time to make sure it was all he thought of before the man was on them. 

“Left!” Sebastian called out, and it was easy to duck around Quinn and trip the new hunter engaging them, no magic necessary. She collided with the ground hard enough that Kurt could mumble a sleeping command with Sebastian nearly pressed up against his back.

The funny thing was, Kurt had never been so scared in his life, scared for both his circle and himself, but it was also the bravest he’d felt. This was what being a witch in the heat of battle was about. They were one, and suddenly he truly understood what Cooper had been talking about when he’d always been sure to tell them there as no leader, and they were a sum of one.

Quinn pointed. “Guns!”

Their magic could do things that Kurt hadn’t dreamed possible. The popping of guns was startling, especially when Kurt realized they were turned on himself and his circle, but the power of his magic flowed through him. He was strong with his circle sister and brother. Stronger than bullets, and they could harness their magic to deflect the weapons.

They were absolute rubbish, however, at any kind of up close combat. 

“Don’t let them get close!” Kurt shouted, winded as a quick punch came to his stomach, making him lose his grip on Sebastian, and his connection to their shared magic. He hunched over protectively as Quinn staggered a little trying to knock the hunter back with her frail form. Sebastian managed a little better, swinging a nearby tree branch up at the unsuspecting hunter who’d clearly believed he’d overpower them without much effort.

They were nearly on the huge stone steps that led up to the gigantic building when Kurt saw him. The fog from the coast was flooding in on them, making it hard to see friend from foe, but in the burning building, Kurt could see Noah. He saw the demon in his circle brother’s body.

“Stay together!” Kurt screamed at Sebastian, and passed Quinn’s hand off to his boyfriend. “And stay safe!” Then he took a deep breath and rushed into the cathedral.

“Kurt!” Sebastian called out behind him, but Kurt didn’t turn back for him and he didn’t stop. He couldn’t.

“Noah! Noah!” Kurt put his arm up against his mouth, the air already thick with smoke. It wasn’t Noah, he reminded himself. It was only Noah’s shell. His body. “Demon!”

There were two dead bodies in the back corner that Kurt followed the demon to. Two dead witches were slumped overreach other with bloodied clothes and slack looks. Out of breath and shaking, Kurt looked away and concentrated instead on the monster in front of him.

“Lookie what the cat dragged in,” the demon said, almost excited. “You know, I had high hopes for you, Kurt. High hopes indeed. I thought you were going to let me down. You were, after all, such an easy pushover as far as dear Daniel was concerned.”

“You give me back my friend.” Kurt’s fingers were tingling, a sure sign that his magic was about to burst up out of him. “You have no right to be in there, and you give him back.”

The demon pressed a hand against his Noah’s chest. “But I really like this body. Kind of beefy, but check out this face. This is the face of some poor boy who never got hugged by his mommy. But you knew that, right Kurt? Poor Noah never had a mommy or daddy, only had his mean grandpa who hit him with a belt, and grandma Jo who drank and drank and drank until she passed out. This, Kurt, this is the face of a pathetic, attention craving little boy.”

Kurt threw himself forward with a scream, his magic releasing and slamming Noah’s body backwards, tumbling through a back door that cracked the plaster surrounding it. “Get out of him!” Kurt charged after, blindly dashing into the smoke filled room.

“You’re kind of fun,” the demon said, Kurt’s legs sweeping out from under him and magic carrying him down so hard into the floor that Kurt felt something snap. He cried out in pain, his chest pulsing with agony. It hurt to breathe, but when he tried to roll away, he was pinned to the ground. As if someone was sitting on him. But it was only magic. Noah’s magic that the demon was manipulating far too easily.

“You shouldn’t be able to do that,” Kurt ground out.

“This?” the demon asked, sending Kurt sliding across the room until he slammed into a few wayward pews. 

“No,” Kurt hissed out, “you shouldn’t be stronger than me.”

The demon actually looked surprised. “Do you think you’re the messiah, Kurt? Do you think you’re special just because of mommy’s blood? Or daddy’s?” The demon knelt down next to Kurt and said pensively, “Well, I guess that does make you special. I retract my statement. But it doesn’t make you one of a kind.”

Kurt tasted blood in his mouth and could see the fire on the ceiling, but it was oddly calming. He laughed a little and said, “I don’t care if I die today. I don’t care as long as I fight. But if I do die, you’re coming with me.” The building was sure to come down on them at any second, and the screaming outside had died down a little, which meant the climax was over. That or there were too few people left to scream.

“You think you’re going to burn me?” the demon asked curiously. “Like your mother did to my brothers?”

“You’re in my brother right now,” Kurt spat. “And I will do what I have to in order to try and save him. And if I can’t save him, I can make sure you go down with him.”

The demon pressed in close, his breath stale and putrid as he told Kurt, “I watched your mother burn my brothers to death. And the ones that tried to escape into the water? She drowned them. This was the price they willingly paid, and I would pay it tenfold to see our work done.”

“Work? War between the hunters and the witches? At best they wipe each other out and at worst they drag norms into the fighting!”

“That’s the problem with you humans,” the demon said with a sad shake to his head. “You think so narrowly. Big picture, Kurt. You have to think of a much bigger picture. But you don’t really strike me as a big picture guy. That’s a shame. Your mother saw the big picture, for all the luck it did her in the end.”

“Kurt!”

Kurt’s head whipped to the side. He could move again, there was nothing holding him in place, but there was something wrong in him. He’d broken something or snapped something and it hurt even just to breathe. He wasn’t going anywhere for the moment.

“I think that’s your boyfriend,” the demon said. “Why don’t we invite him to the party.”

“No!” Not Sebastian. Not the one thing Kurt couldn’t stand to lose. The one person he’d do anything to protect. “Sebastian! Don’t come back here!”

Coughing heavy and soot smudged, Sebastian staggered in, by himself and seemingly disoriented. “Kurt?”

“Get out of here!”

“Nah,” the demon waved at Kurt. “Don’t mind the party pooper here. We’re just getting started.”

“Demon?” Sebastian asked, meeting Kurt’s eyes. When there was conformation, Sebastian wheeled on the demon and said, “We probably have a couple more minutes of breathable air in here. You might not be human, but you’re in a human body, and I’ve got a feeling that if your host dies while you’re inside, you die too. Or do you want to test that theory?”

The demon laughed. “Are you proposing that I let you drag your boyfriend out of here in exchange for my own escape?”

“I will stand aside,” Sebastain told him with a steely gaze. “And a witch’s word means everything that a demon’s doesn’t.”

Drawing in thin air, Kurt protested, “It won’t work, Sebastian. He doesn’t care whether he lives or dies.”

Salaciously, the demon bragged, “I’ve never been in a host witch with a bound circle, and I’ve had my fair share of hosts. Did you know I get access to even more power, the more of you there are in my direct vicinity? This is marvelous. Oh, and is that another one of you I feel out there?”

Kurt frowned. “How could you have been in different hosts? You were stuck inside Daniel Freedman for fifteen years, the host you jumped into to try and escape.”

The demon rocked back on his feet. “Who said I was trying to escape that night?”

Sebastian was inching forward, but Kurt didn’t know if the demon had noticed yet, if he hadn’t, it could be the only edge they had.

“How could you have been in different hosts?” Kurt demanded, keeping the demon’s attention on him. “How?”

Ripe with thunderous joy, the demon asked, “Did you think that was the first time your mother had summoned me? No, no, we had a couple test runs before that.”

The ceiling cracked, and there was a strange whistle of sorts before fire flooded the room. The pressure of magic rushed to Kurt’s ears and he could see the demon using the strength of Noah’s magic, bolstered by the other circle members present, to push the fire towards an unsuspecting Sebastian. 

It was too fast for Kurt to stop it, not even with his mother’s legacy pushing him past the pain and to his feet. He couldn’t stop it, he couldn’t even redirect it, but he could fall against Sebastian, arms locked around his waist with his eyes closed and a prayer that they’d be protected somehow.

“A charm?” the demon demanded, starting to sound aggravated. “A charm?”

Sebastian steadied him and Kurt looked down at the malachite pendant that was hanging freely from Sebastian’s chest. They were untouched and the pendant reeked of energy.

Sebastian cracked him a half smile. “Good call.”

It had to have been the charm, or maybe that and a combination of Kurt’s magic, or any other of things, but that didn’t matter. The only thing that did was the magic in his fingers that had spread to the rest of his body to get him ready to fight.

“We’re doing it together,” Kurt said, his fingers locked between Sebastian’s. “As a pair.”

Sebastian squeezed his grip. “You need to consider letting loose whatever you’ve got stored up in there.”

It was circle magic they were currently using. However, Kurt felt his mother’s legacy lurking around them, hanging in the air like a stench. But as he connected with Sebastian, dodging to the left and hurdling themselves around powerful pulses of magic, he still didn’t dare use it. It was too dark. Too hard to control. And it was too frightening. 

As the demon launched a new attack at them, they zigged and zagged, rolling and ducking and never once losing their grip on each other.

“He has to get tired eventually!” Kurt shouted, the air too thick to breathe in anymore. “And we have to get out of here!”

Kurt felt their circle magic spark as Sebastian shouted, “Heavy like rocks!” and Noah’s body crashed to the floor with force, dropping like he weighed a ton. “Here’s our chance!” 

They burst out of the back of the building and into the frigid night air with gasping lungs and sweaty palms. Behind them the demon roared inhumanly and gave chase.

“That didn’t last long!” Kurt said, legs pumping. “It should have lasted longer!”

“He’s not getting tired!”

Because of them. They were too close to the demon. Kurt had stupidly thought that the demon would run out of energy after using Noah’s magic for so long like they all did. But the exception was always when they were in groups of three or more. Then the magic seemed to replenish itself. There was one too many of them for the demon to get tired. And they were never going to outrun him. 

“Stop,” Kurt panted, leaning forward against the twinge in his chest. He wondered how bad it was going to be when he had to face the actual damage that the magic was currently masking. “We can’t run from him. We have to face him down. Or I have to.”

“What?” Sebastian demanded. The teen held him hard by the arm.

“He’s not going to get tired with you or me, or any combination of us around him. I can’t beat him with you here.”

“What makes you think you can beat him at all?”

“Because,” Kurt said softly, eyes watching for the demon who was staggering towards them, obviously hurt. “Because I love you, so I can do anything. But also because when I touch you, the circle magic automatically overrides any of the other magic in me. I can’t get at any of my mother’s legacy magic when you’re around. But if you aren’t, that’s the only thing I’ll have, and I’ve already seen the things it can do. I’ve killed a dozen hunters with it already.”

Sebastian snapped, “Hunters, Kurt. Not a demon. Don’t be crazy.”

“I don’t know any other way to get at it!”

“I won’t leave you,” Sebastian swore. “No matter what you say I won’t let you do this by your--”

With a groan of pain and a spray of blood Sebastian spun away. He slipped to the ground, eyes wide as a he raised shaking hands to the blade handle sticking out of his chest. “Kurt? What happened?”

The demon gave a loud whistle as he strolled up, Noah’s face as smudged with smoke and ash as Kurt knew his own was. “Have I mentioned I like this body? All sorts of treats hidden all over, like knives built into boots. That is something.”

“Don’t touch it!” Kurt begged, pushing at Sebastian’s hands as he tried to cradle the boy in his arms. “You can’t pull it out.” The truth was, he didn’t now anything about knife wounds. He didn’t know what was severe and what wasn’t, or how to treat them, or anything. He only knew there was blood and he was panicking and the demon was right there with them once more. “Oh, Sebastian.”

“This is so touching,” the demon cooed. 

“You’re going to be okay,” Kurt said, voice cracking as he tried to figure out what to do. “I’m going to get you out of here. I’ll get you to a hospital. You’re going to be okay.” The blade had hit in Sebastian’s upper chest area, but thankfully not near his heart. “You just sit tight for me for a second.”

“Why?” Sebastian asked woozily. “Are you going somewhere?”

“Yeah,” Kurt shushed. “Just to take out the trash somehow.”

The demon smiled innocently with Noah’s face. “I bet that’s how your daddy would have held your mommy if she’d been dying in his arms.”

He’d always been scared of what his mother had left for him as her legacy. He’d always been scared of the magic that he barely had a grasp on. After all, the last two times it had come to the surface he’d killed half a dozen men each time, or maybe more, and at least one witch. It was so dark it scared him, and so wild that he knew it couldn’t be tamed. If he let go of the reins and if he let himself give in, there was the chance he wouldn’t come back from it. There was the chance it would take him over. He hadn’t had the training his mother had. He didn’t know how to deal with it. 

The scarier thought was of losing Sebastian. And that was one thing he could not allow. 

“Little witch,” the demon called. “Come play.”

“Kurt,” Sebastian mumbled.

“I love you,” Kurt said as a final parting. 

Then he let go.

He must have blacked out. Because there was a moment when he was simply there, nameless, faceless and alone, and gone the next. Everything else faded. He forgot his name. He forgot Sebastian. Nothing mattered because nothing was there.

Except the strangest pull in his stomach. The kind that drifted up through his chest and settled in his heart, making it hurt as it beat. He slowly came back to himself, because there was something anchoring him to the real world, something that he hadn’t intended or expected or could explain.

And he knew only one thing, that the anchor was to be protected and cherished. It was important. It was … it was Sebastian. Sebastian was his anchor.

Then he was back.

His eyes opened and the flames were surrounding them. They’d leapt from the cathedral to the surrounding area and were continuing to spread. And when Kurt tipped his head back he could see the clouds swirling around above him, darker than the night sky, darker than the blackest black he’d ever seen. He thought for a second his knees were shaking, but a gravestone nearby toppled over in its old age and he realized it was the ground.

Trees uprooted as power surged through Kurt and then out, robbing him of thought. Then the graves themselves were coming up, and the fire was floating, dancing through the air in an impossibly choreographed motion.

“Witch!” the demon hissed. “I will rip the skin from your bones! I will make you watch as I take your lover apart piece by piece and feed his flesh to my waiting brothers. I will--”

The magic Kurt never let out, the kind that killed indiscriminately and scared him to death, reached out and tore Noah’s throat from his body. There was no sound from the demon, not even a peep, and Kurt felt the blood that had splashed back on him slowly leak down his face. He made no attempt to look away from the demon that had drowned in its own host’s blood. 

Still it wasn’t enough. The magic wasn’t satisfied and it pushed at Kurt, wanting more, demanding more, and sentient enough to take Kurt’s own willpower from him.

“Kurt.”

Kurt turned towards his anchor. “He would have killed you.”

“Kurt,” Sebastian tried, spitting out a mouthful of blood. “It’s okay. Baby, it’s over. Please stop now. He’s … he’s gone. The demon is gone and it won’t hurt anyone else.”

“There are others,” Kurt said, swinging back towards the collapsed building. 

“Kurt! Sebastian!”

There were the rest of his circle members coming up fast, racing towards them.

And the power racing through Kurt’s veins churned with hatred for them, so much that Kurt hated them. His mind filled with disastrous thoughts, and ideas that they were weak. Their magic was prohibitive. It held his own back and it was part of the reason Sebastian had been hurt. If he got rid of them they wouldn’t be a weakness anymore. If he killed them, and it would be so easy, they wouldn’t interfere anymore.

“Kurt, damnit,” Sebastian said roughly. Blaine and Cooper were on both sides of him trying to help him up while Rachel dialed frantically on her phone for an ambulance. “Snap out of it.”

Kurt loved him so much. “I can stop it. I can end it.”

“Stop what?” Sebastian said, breathing heavily. His eyes flicked to where a few lone surviving witches and hunters were no longer fighting each other. If anything they were standing in unison against Kurt, like brothers and sisters, watching warily for the beginning of a new fight. “Them? They’re not our enemies?”

“No?” Kurt asked. “They’d kill us. All of them would. I can see it. Can’t you?”

Sebastian reached for him. He was unsteady on his feet and it didn’t help when lightening flashed above, bringing with it a torrential downpour of water that only seemed to fan the flames. “Kurt, please, I’m begging you. Stop this. This isn’t you. This is all that dark magic in you. You can’t see yourself, but you’re changing. It’s changing you.”

“I’m saving you,” Kurt said, hair already plastered to his head. “And I won’t stop until they’re all dead.”

“Kurt,” Blaine tried. “Be reasonable.” He reached for Kurt too, but unlike Sebastian who held on freely, the moment he touched Kurt’s arm he was shouting in pain and drawing away with a burned hand.

“Stay back!” Sebastian called out, one hand at the back of Kurt’s neck as he drew the boy to look at him. “Kurt. It’s me. It’s Sebastian. You’ve lost control of your magic. You know I wouldn’t lie to you, and I’m telling you right here and right now that if you don’t stop now you could hurt someone. You would never forgive yourself if you hurt Blaine, or you hurt Quinn, or even one of those innocent people standing over there. They were provoked by a demon, Kurt. I’m not saying they’re blameless, but they didn’t do this.”

Quietly, Cooper said to Sebastian, “It’s building up in him. You think this is a loss of control? He’s just getting ready to let the majority of it out.”

“This isn’t the majority?” Blaine asked in a frightened tone. “What the hell is this then?”

Everything was beginning to swirl around them and thunder sounded. The flames burned higher and brighter and stronger.

“This is only a fraction of what he can do,” Cooper said. “And god help us with this much.”

“Kurt! Kurt stop!”

It was a shock forever everyone to see Jesse St. James running his way through the gathering debris, but even more so for Kurt. It was enough to give him pause. But the magic in him wasn’t startled, and in the darkness of his mind the magic whispered the truth to him about the teenage boy who’d arrive. And Kurt repeated it back to him, “You’ve been meddling.”

“I’ve been minding you,” Jesse corrected. 

“What the hell are you doing here?” Sebastian asked.

Jesse stared straight at Kurt, moving closer than anyone but Sebastian dared to do since Blaine had been hurt. “You’re my charge, Kurt. My responsibility. You’re the one I protect, the same that you protect Sebastian. And I know more about you than you know about yourself, even right now. I know you feel invincible at the moment. You probably feel unstoppable, and that this is exactly how all of that dark magic in you wants you to feel. But I’m here to tell you that you’re being taken for a fool by that magic. It’s tempting you. It’s showing you all that it can give you, but it isn’t telling you what you’ll have to give up in return to have it. You don’t know, Kurt, but if you stop this I can tell you, and then you can make that choice on your own.”

“You know nothing,” Kurt said decisively.

Jesse took another step forward. “I know that if you don’t stop very quickly, there won’t be an option to stop later on. You’ll be locked into this, Kurt, until it kills you or you kill Sebastian. He’s the last thing keeping you here, isn’t he?”

“I’m what?” Sebastian inquired. “Like an anchor?”

“Exactly.” Jesse nodded. “You’ve always been his anchor.”

“I’m never giving him up,” Kurt vowed, and he’d rip Jesse to pieces for even suggesting it.

Jesse stood true. “You’ll kill him.”

“Liar!”

More dark magic exploded from Kurt and it sent Jesse flipping backwards and into shrubbery.

“I’m not lying!” Jesse shot back to his feet. “You haven’t been trained to access your dark magic like you are. It’s going to overload you, and you are a part of a bound circle. When it kills you, and it will, it’s going to feed back directly to every single person in your circle. It will hurt them and it might result in fatalities.”

Kurt gave a dull look to Noah’s body. “The circle is broken.”

“But you can still feel them, can’t you?”

Kurt held Sebastian close as he looked from Quinn, to Rachel, and finally to Blaine. Sebastian was nonnegotiable, but the rest of them could be sacrificed. Sebastian was strong enough to survive, and the rest …

“I will never forgive you,” Sebastian said suddenly, cutting into Kurt’s line of sight, “if you let anything happen to them. You are just as much their responsibility as they are yours. They came here and got involved in this because of you and Puck. And I am not going to let them die because of it. Quinn has always been there for you as the voice of reason, and I know you’ve been able to confide in Blaine in ways that you couldn’t do with anyone else. And … and what about Rachel? She’s the one who pushed to bring you into the circle in the first place. She always pushed you to greatness, just like I always believed you were great.”

“I …” Kurt couldn’t look away from him. The magic was so wonderful. It was in his bones and consuming, and it promised to make him everything he was destined to be. But Sebastian … Sebastian was right. His circle was unwaveringly loyal in the way that magic couldn’t be. The magic seemed sentient, but it wasn’t alive. It wasn’t breathing. It wasn’t his circle. 

More than that, he couldn’t risk Sebastian. He couldn’t risk the person he would die for.

“I love you,” Sebastian whispered into his ear, hugging him with closed eyes. “I look at you and I see a future we’re going to build together, with careers, families, and years and years of us. But we only have a future if you stop right now. Because if you don’t you will die, and I might die with you. But even if I don’t and you do, it won’t be worth going on. Do you understand? There is no me and you separately. There is only us. And time is running out.”

The price was too high. 

The magic was screaming at him, furious with him, but his mind was made up. And as easy as it was to let go, that was how more difficult it was to get that control back.

But he knew the second it happened. His legs gave out under him, he fell, and so did everything else with him.

“Kurt,” Sebastian cried out, unable to hold him up. He slumped over Kurt, in fact, and Kurt could feel the warmth of the blood that had soaked through Sebastian’s clothing. “Oh, Kurt, I’m here. I’ve got you. Thank you.”

“Is it over?” Quinn asked.

“It is,” Jesse confirmed. 

“Kurt?” Sebastian asked, his head bent so their foreheads pressed together. “Say something.”

What could se say? What would make up for the things he’d been thinking? The things he’d been willing to do? Even to his own circle? What would justify him ripping the heavens and earth apart to try and make things safe for Sebastian through his own selfish need? And for what he had done to Noah. Oh, god, Noah.

“Sebastian.” Kurt clutched at him, staring up into his boyfriend’s face. “I killed him, Sebastian.”

Sebastian looked over to Noah’s lifeless body. “You … you didn’t have a choice. You couldn’t get the demon out. There was no time and you didn’t have the right spell or ingredients and he would have killed us. You did what you had to. Kurt, look at me. Don’t look over there.” Sebastian weakly shifted them. “You keep looking at me, because you and me, that’s all that matters. We are going to be okay, this is over, and we have our whole lives together now.”

“I killed him.”

A sob broke out from Kurt and he burred his face into Sebastian’s jacket. “I killed Noah, Sebastian! I ripped his throat out and I killed him and it’s all on me. It’s my fault.”

There were ambulance sounds in the background as Rachel asked Jesse, “Excuse me, but who exactly are you? How do you know all this?”

“You’re not to blame,” Sebastian whispered into Kurt’s hair. “I won’t let you blame yourself.”

Kurt shook his head, trembling against Sebastian. “What have I done?”


	21. Chapter 21

“Kurt? I’m coming in now.” 

With a sheet cocooned around him, Kurt pulled his knees further to his chest on his bed, watching the door carefully as his uncle came through. The man was balancing a tray of food in one hand, mail in the other, and he had Kurt’s schoolbag over his shoulder. His uncle was a little red in the face when he reached the bed from climbing the stairs, but he had a smile on his face and a bounce to his step.

His uncle was getting much better at hiding the guilt he professed to feel every time he looked at Kurt. 

Kurt still remembered him in the hospital room, gathering Kurt up into his arms with tears flowing down his face as he begged, “Please for give me, Kurt. I should never have left you. I’m so sorry I wasn’t there for you.”

But he understood. And three days later when they let him go home with his broken collarbone and burns and lacerations, he told his uncle, “You were scared of me. I understand. I’m scared of myself.”

He’d been bedridden ever since, not taking visitors, not going to school, and barely refusing to acknowledge the outside world. Maybe if he shut himself away he wouldn’t have to confront the fact that he was a murder, and that he’d almost killed all the people he really cared about, and other, really important people who were essential to maintaining a balance between hunters and witches.

“I’ve got food for you. Come on. Sit up.” With a passing groan, Kurt let the man help him upright, then the tray was placed over his lap and Kurt looked down at the half ham sandwich, green salad, and fruit cocktail. It was more than he knew he could handle. Maybe his uncle knew that too.

“I’m not hungry.”

His uncle wasn’t phased. “Eat what you can and I’ll put the rest away or later. I think by now you’ve found that I’m going to coddle you and I won’t be giving in to your stubbornness or self wallowing. Now eat, I’ll watch you do it if I have to.”

Lethargically Kurt picked up his fruit spoon and said, “You don’t have to baby me. You just feel guilty.”

“And ashamed,” his uncle said. “Because I let my fears get the best of me and I left you alone when I knew you needed the extra support. So complain all you want, but this is my penance. Oh, and I know the sandwich is ham, and ham isn’t your favorite. But we ran out of turkey and I didn’t want to leave you alone to go to the store. Not just yet anyway.”

His uncle had been playing nursemaid, and he hadn’t been to work since he’d gotten back in town. At first Kurt had just ignored him, and suffered through the ministrations, and then he’d sort of enjoyed being cared for. But then he’d just felt unworthy, and unable to believe that his uncle could still want to be near him. He knew that his Uncle Andy knew exactly what had happened out at that church. His uncle knew he’d tried to kill everyone. That he had killed Noah.

“You don’t need to watch me all the time. I’m not going to disappear.”

His uncle’s head hung low. “Good, because I’m not going to let you. And I … Kurt, I promise you, I’m not going to go anywhere either. I just got so scared. I knew you’d been in my head. I knew magic was involved and I didn’t … I was just so scared. Your father never scared me with his magic. I’d never really been scared of magic, but I should have trusted you.”

These were the moments when Kurt reminded himself how young his uncle really was. The man was barely an adult, and Kurt regretted putting so much pressure on him.

Kurt tipped his spoon and let the fruit plop back down into its bowl. “Noah trusted me. I killed him.”

His uncle sat on the bed. “Your friend had demon in him. I don’t care how powerful you are, or what kind of magic you have in you, you can’t force a demon out of a person by sheer will. You have to have a ritual. You have to. There’s no getting around it, and you didn’t have the time or the opportunity. You did what was necessary to protect the rest of your group, and I bet you anything Noah Puckerman would have understood. He would have agreed with your decision to stop the demon at all cost.”

“How do you know that?” Kurt asked angrily. He shifted too fast and winced in pain. A broken collarbone was by far the worst pain he’d ever felt. Even simple breathing hurt.

“Because, Kurt,” his uncle nudged the salad towards him instead of the fruit, “your father told me that having a circle was gaining a family. I was his blood, but they were brothers and sisters of his too. He looked out for his circle and protected them like family does, like he did for me, and I know both you and your circle feel the same way. That means self sacrifice sometimes. That means making hard choices for the benefit of the circle. Selflessness is the first thing you embody in a circle, and no matter how gruff or hard on the outside Puckerman might have been, he knew that if it took his life to keep his circle safe, then it was forfeit. That’s just how a circle is.”

“But--”

“No buts. You’d give your life for them, wouldn’t you? They’d give theirs in return.”

Determined, Kurt said, “But I dragged him into it. It’s my fault. It was my stupid idea. I killed him, and I don’t care what any of you say. I don’t care at all. It’s my fault. My burden. My guilt to live with.”

With a sigh his uncle said, “You’re too young to live with that sort of guilt.”

Kurt felt like an old man.

His uncle perked up a little. “Anyway, I’ve got your mail here. There’s a couple letters from friends back in Ohio, more get well cards from your classmates, and I think something about your car insurance? I’m not sure. I’ll leave this on the bedside table.”

“Thanks,” Kurt mumbled, taking a bite of his salad. It tasted like ash. Everything tasted like ash now.

“Your friend Dave came by earlier today,” Kurt’s uncle said. He held up Kurt’s school bag. “He got all of the assignments that you’ve missed so far. He’ll turn them in for you when you’re done. And on that note, I talked to your principal today on the phone. You’ve still got to take your finals in a few weeks, but you’ll be allowed to do it with curved curriculum, and your teachers have already agreed to only test you on the material you would have been present to learn, so good break there.”

The doorbell downstairs rang and Kurt noticed the look on his uncle’s face. He asked, “You’re expecting company?”

The man got to his feet. “You don’t want to get out of bed, even when I nag and complain at you to do so, so I decide to get better motivation than myself. Be right back. Eat your food!”

Kurt tracked the sound of his uncle moving downstairs but reached absently for one of the letters on his beside table. The top envelope was from Mercedes back in Ohio. He really missed her, and before everything had happened, he’d wanted to go back during the summer to visit her. She’d been his best friend back there, though they’d grown distant over the past months.

“Kurt?”

Kurt startled a little at the sight of Sebastian in his doorway. He demanded, “What’re you doing here? You’re supposed to be in bed. Are you crazy?”

“I’m fine,” Sebastian said with a cocky smile. “It takes more than one little knife to get me down.”

Flabbergasted, Kurt quoted, “One little knife?”

With one arm braced around his ribs, Sebastian moved over to the bed. “The doctors gave me the okay to go back to school today. I went for my afternoon classes, actually. Then your uncle called me and asked if I wanted to come cheer you up.” With him came an overexcited Knight who leaped up onto the bed with a happy bark and burrowed in next to Kurt.

Kurt nodded and pulled back some of his blankets to make room for him on the bed, setting his tray to the side. “Get in.” It was the first time Kurt had actually seen him since the hospital. They’d both been at home recovering since then. They’d talked on the phone almost every day, but it wasn’t the same as seeing each other, and Kurt had never really trusted Sebastian when he claimed his mother had more than sobered up enough to care for him.

“Am I interrupting your lunch?” Sebastian asked, his leg going over Kurt’s, and Kurt’s arm snaking around Sebastian’s back so they twisted together comfortably. 

“No.”

“Your uncle says you’re not eating enough.”

Kurt’s nose bumped Sebastian’s and he sighed. “Everything tastes like ash. And I’m not saying that just to be melodramatic. It all literally tastes like ash. Even ice cream.”

Sebastian reached long fingers into Kurt’s fruit bowl and drew out a grape. He chewed on it thoughtfully and said, “Tastes great to me.”

Huffy, Kurt grumbled, “Another thing I’ve destroyed.”

“Hey.” Sebastian bumped his forehead against Kurt’s. “I listened to you tear yourself down on the phone even night for a week and a half. No more. I’m not standing for it anymore. I want my fierce, sexy as hell boyfriend back. You know, the one that is confident and ballsy and not afraid to rip me a new one when I overstep. Can I get him back?”

Kurt said, “He died when Noah did.”

Sebastian quieted for a while, and Kurt was almost falling asleep when he heard his boyfriend ask, “Why won’t you open the curtains in your room?”

“Did my uncle tell you everything?” Kurt asked with thinly veiled annoyance. 

“Only the things you won’t, for whatever reasons you have.”

“Can’t we just lay here and cuddle?”

“No,” Sebastian said. “And I think that you won’t open your curtains because you don’t want to have to look outside your window and see Puck’s house. You don’t want to be reminded. I know … look, I know you’re hurting Kurt. You’re hurting on a level that none of us can come close to comprehending, but you can’t start to heal until you let go of some of the anger you have inside you. None of us blame you, if that’s what you’re worried about.”

“I blame me,” Kurt snapped. “I don’t know how many times I have to tell everyone. I blame me.”

Sebastian’s fingers traced the stubble on Kurt’s upper throat. “You didn’t come to the funeral.”

“Did I have any right to be there?” Kurt choked out. “I ripped my circle brother’s throat out. I killed him. That’s what he got for trusting me and being loyal to me. It got him killed and it was me who did it. The magic in me. The kind that I knew was dark but I let myself get pushed into using anyway. The magic that I pushed myself into using, and it killed him and almost killed you and everyone else.”

“I talked to Cooper,” Sebastian said. “About Puck. Cooper said he was gone the second the demon got into him and took over.”

Kurt let out a dry laugh. “And you believed him? Sebastian, there was a demon in Daniel Freedman for fifteen years, and when Noah and I pulled it out of him he was shaken and damaged, but he was still okay. He was still the person he’d been before. If I had been able to save Noah, he would have still been Noah. Cooper just told you that to make you feel better about what I’d done.”

“I just don’t understand why you hate yourself so much for this when no one else does. You made the right call. The right calls are always the hardest ones to make. But you had to choose between trying to save him and saving the rest of us. I would have made the same choice, and so would Puck.”

Kurt pulled his blankets up to his shoulders, breathing in the sent of Sebastian’s body wash. He swore, “I will always blame myself. For that and for being glad.”

“Glad?” Sebastian asked confused.

Kurt grimaced. “I was so glad it was Noah. That’s the worst and most horrible thing to say ever, but it’s the truth. I’m so glad it was him and not you. If I had let a demon get into you … Sebastian, I would have destroyed everyone and everything. No one would have been able to talk me down. Not like you and Jesse did.”

Kurt’s uncle’s head popped in. “You boys okay in here?”

Sebastian turned over slowly towards him. “Fine, Mr. Hummel. Don’t worry. I am fully respecting Kurt’s body. I’m going to respect it all night long.”

Kurt burst out laughing and it felt so good and so normal that he felt his eyes grow wet.

Uncle Andy’s eyes narrowed as he said, “That’s good to hear, Mr. Smythe. You let me know when you’re ready to go and I’m going to help you down the very steep, very accident prone stairs that we have here. It would be a shame if you fell.”

“Uncle Andy!”

“I know. I’m going.”

Kurt grinned into a shared kiss with Sebastian,, asking, “Where do you get the bravado to say things like that? And to my uncle?”

“I don’t know,” Sebastian said, kissing him back. “To be honest, every time I’m around you I feel pretty invincible. I get brave, if that makes any sense. You make me brave.”

“I make you a jackass, apparently.”

They settled down fairly easily and Kurt’s fingers circled around the pulse at Sebastian’s wrist, a good reminder that he had managed to get in control of his magic just in time. Sebastian was here and he was safe.

“We’re going to be okay, Kurt. I know things are raw right now, but we’re tough. You’re strong. We will recover.”

“How can we recover?” Kurt wanted to know. “The circle is broken.”

“I know.”

“The circle will never be whole again.”

Sebastian shook his head. “No, but we’re not defined by being a circle. We were all witches before we were a circle, and I’d like to think we’ve grown enough in the short time that we were a circle to have a much better control on our magic by now.”

“Maybe,” Kurt said, but he couldn’t tell Sebastian how much of his dark magic was still lurking near the surface, begging to be let out, constantly tempting him.

“Did anyone tell you about the rescheduled summit?”

That was news to Kurt. “No. What’s going on?”

Sebastian rolled to his back but kept his feet fitted between Kurt’s. “I guess something good came out of that night. I don’t know if you remember, but by the end the hunters and witches were standing together. They were going to fight together.”

“Against me,” Kurt scoffed.

“Regardless,” Sebastian said, “they learned that they could work together again, and there were just enough survivors on each side to come to the consensus that they needed to work their problems out. At least with demons in the picture. Cooper said they’ve got a summit rescheduled for next month, and it’s going to be down in California this time. The witches are willing to accept boundaries, and from what Cooper hears, the hunters are willing to let them practice their magic. The best of both worlds, I guess.”

“So, no war?”

“A truce is in effect right now.” Sebastian watched the magic stars above, moving and shifting, falling into patterns that were recognizable from astronomy books. “They won’t come after us and we won’t go after them.”

Kurt asked, head propped up by a hand, “Do they know about the demons yet? From fifteen years ago?”

Sebastian nodded. “Cooper told them everything he knew, and we filled in the rest of the blanks. What happened back then incited most of the bad blood between the two groups these days, so I think that’s going to mellow out. And when they take the vote, this mess is going to be a thing of the past. I’m not saying issues won’t still pop up, but we’re moving on and we’re learning from our mistakes. It’s a step in the right direction.”

Sebastian seemed so quick to forgive, but then again he didn’t have the kind of familial history with the hunters that Kurt did. He couldn’t forget or forgive how they’d wiped out everyone in his mother’s bloodline, leaving him as the last Murdock standing. They’d killed children based on their radical beliefs, and that kind of crazy didn’t go away over night. Neither was it so easily put to rest.

“Kurt!” his uncle called out from downstairs. “You’ve got another visitor.” Knight barked at the sound of unfamiliar boots on the stairs.

“You bring someone with you?” Kurt asked curiously.

A voice from the doorway said, “I thought I’d better keep my distance until you were ready to hear what I had to say.”

Kurt sat up slowly. “Jesse.”

The curly haired teen stepped into Kurt’s room and shut the door behind him. “I know you have questions, and I’ll answer everything that I can.”

Before Kurt could even begin Sebastian was swinging his feet to the side of the bed so he could sit properly. He asked, “Are you a witch? Because you seemed really okay with the magic thing. And not at all surprised.”

“No.” Jesse shook his head. “I’m not a witch, though there are several in my family. Magic is hereditary by nature, but certainly not guaranteed. No, I’m not a witch and I think you do know what I am. You met one of my kindred sisters, Kurt. She was protector to your mother, the same way I am to you.”

“Cassandra,” Kurt said suddenly reaching out to touch Sebastian’s arm. “She was my mother’s psychic. Don’t you remember? She thought it was funny that our circle had a psychic too, and we didn’t even know it.”

“You’re a psychic?” Sebastian asked with a frown.

Jesse took a seat at Kurt’s desk, turning the chair towards them. “I’m gifted. Each psychic is different, just like all witches are different, but I tend to specialize in precognition.”

“Huh?” Sebastian said.

Patiently Jesse smiled at them. “I see things before they happen. Sometimes decades before they happen. It mostly happens when I’m sleeping, but not always. And I chose Kurt because I felt that the Great Mother was pushing me towards him. After all, I was having dreams about him when I was a child. The same as his mother’s psychic.”

“So you dreamed about me,” Kurt said flatly. “But you didn’t help?”

“I helped where I could,” Jesse assured them. “I did what I could where I could, but I knew if I interfered too much that I could rewrite your futures and change the way things are supposed to be. I couldn’t risk that. You’re too important to our future, Kurt. Things had to play out exactly the way they were supposed to.”

Suspiciously, Kurt said, “You were there the first day I went down to the marina. You pushed me towards getting a job at the café.”

Jesse gestured between them. “You two were intended to meet and be friends long before you actually did. I understand your father’s motivations, Kurt, but he disrupted something very important between the two of you. I just tried to get it back on track.”

“And,” Sebastian cut in, “you’ve been pushing me towards him. Not to mention that night at the fundraiser you called me to tell me Kurt was there. You said he looked like he was in trouble. I thought his date might have been pushing for something.”

“Adam?” Kurt asked sharply. “Adam would never try to force me into anything.”

Sebastian shrugged. “I didn’t know that. But it’s why I got the others and came so fast. It’s why we were there to stop Fischer from hurting you or taking you.”

“I could only give nudges,” Jesse reminded.

Sebastian told Kurt, “He told me about that woman, Julie, who tried to kill you by lying to you in order to get you out to her house.” Sebastian’s gaze swung back to Jesse. “Where else did you mess with us?”

Honorably Jesse swore, “I only ever interfered when I thought that you were in trouble, Kurt, or when I knew you’d need the extra help. I told you, there’s a fine line to walk, and I’m here to help try to protect you, not to make your choices for you.”

“You’ve said that before,” Kurt pointed out. “That you’re here to protect me. Against what? The hunters?”

Jesse shook his head. “Would you believe me if I told you I didn’t know? Not yet?”

“Not really,” Sebastian scoffed.

“It’s the truth, though.” Jesse carded a hand through his hair. “I don’t get to pick or control what I see, and since I was a kid, I’ve only been seeing things related to Kurt at this current time. This is where it starts, but I know there’s more to come. I can feel it when I have my visions. This is all building up to something much more important, and this was a test for you, Kurt. A test you had to pass to be ready for the next thing that comes.”

“But you don’t know what exactly,” Kurt asked flatly.

“I wish I did,” Jesse said. “What I do know is that you are here for something greater, Kurt. You have a greater purpose, and so do the rest of us. I can only hope that I’ll get a glimpse into the future of that soon enough to be of use to you. I know that Aunt Cassandra knew, but she never told me what was coming. And she’s gone now.”

Kurt leaned forward a little. “Cassandra was your aunt?”

“A superfluous title,” Jesse assured him. “nature is the Great Mother to us all, and we’re all sisters, brothers, aunts, uncles, cousins and so on and so forth. She was my aunt because of her age relative to mine. But I was closer with her than the others. I knew she knew about your future, Kurt, but she wouldn’t say. I think I’m meant to find out on my own.”

Kurt pursed his lips and took a deep breath. “Did you know Noah would die? Did you see that happening? Did you know what I would do? Could I have been stopped before then?”

“Do you want the honest answer for that? Or the one that will make you feel better?”

Kurt readied himself. “I want you to tell me the truth.”

“Okay.” Jesse told him, “the truth is, some things are preordained. They’re meant to happen. For example, you and Sebastian were meant to break your respective family cycles, the ones that I’m sure you’re aware of by now, but the details, such as you not meeting until much later in life than intended, were not fixed points on your timeline. Noah Puckerman dying, that was always going to happen, Kurt. I knew he was going to die when I was in kindergarten. I don’t know how many times I dreamed about that scene with the burning church. Any way I might have played it, trying to warn you ahead of time, trying to intercept the demon, or tying to keep you all out of it in the first place, he was always going to die.”

“Why,” Kurt demanded. 

“I don’t know the why, Kurt.”

Jesse had more answers for them, but some were too ambiguous for Kurt to stand, and by the time Kurt was starting to feel sleepy, Jesse was on his feet.

“I will be here to help you and support you and protect you as best I can,” Jesse swore to Kurt, “but make no mistake, this is your path to walk. You can sit here and feel sorry for the way things were meant to be, or vow never to use your magic again like I know you feel tempted to. But you should know that this is only the beginning. Things will get much more complicated and much more difficult from here on out. There are players in this game that you haven’t even met, and others that you won’t see coming. Something is on the horizon, Kurt. And you need to be ready.” He started towards the door. “I think you’ll decide to come back to school soon. I’ll see you then when you do.”

When Jesse was gone Sebastian said, “I kind of want to punch him in the face. A lot.”

“I know the feeling,” Kurt grumbled, rubbing a hand across his chest.

“You okay?” Sebastian leaned back towards him. “Because we don’t have to believe for a second anything that came out of his mouth. It wouldn’t be the first time someone tired to manipulate you, if that’s what’s going on.”

Kurt forced a smile. “You know it was the truth. That’s what scares me.”

Sebastian asked, “Then you were really thinking about cutting off your magic? Not using it? Not being a witch?”

Kurt couldn’t lie to him. Not to Sebastian. He had to say, “I’ve been thinking about it. What I unleashed on the demon, and what happened that night, it didn’t just go away after. It’s still in me. It will always be in me, and it’s insanely powerful. It’s dark, too. It makes me want to give into my urges and my darkest thoughts and deepest desires. It makes me want to be powerful, and it tried to make me believe that the only way to protect you is to give into it. But I almost killed you doing that, and I don’t know if it can ever be controlled. My mother’s legacy is dangerous and it makes me scared of my father’s, too.”

“Your mother controlled it,” Sebastian told him. “And that means you can too. I mean it when I say I’m not scared of you. I’m scared of what you could do, but I’m not scared of you. I will never be scared of you. And you can’t just hold this all in until you explode. Maybe right now isn’t the right time or magic, but it’s a part of you, Kurt, and you can’t just ignore it. It can’t be ignored.”

“I know,” Kurt whispered.

“Then the only thing you need to focus on is how much I love you, and how I will be here with you for every step of the way. No matter what is coming at us.”

Sebastian stayed long enough to help Kurt finished what was supposed to be his late lunch, but then left him with a promise to come by soon again.

“I think that did you some good,” Kurt’s Uncle Andy decided as he was pushing back the curtains in Kurt’s room and cracking the windows open to catch the early May breeze. “You sure you want me doing this? You freaked out the last time I tried.”

From the bed Kurt could see Noah’s house, complete with chipping paint trim. “Yes, I’m sure.” Sebastian was right. He couldn’t hide away forever. He had to face his fears. And he needed to heal. He would still blame himself, and forever feel that Noah’s death was his responsibility, but he had to move past it, if only for his future with Sebastian.

“Good,” his uncle said. “And maybe in a couple of days school?”

“Monday,” Kurt decided. “I’ll go back Monday.”

On Monday he was swarmed with people before he even made it out of Sebastian’s car in the parking lot. His boyfriend fought towards him shouting, “Get out of the way, Berry! Back it up, Anderson! He’s got a broken collarbone you idiot, Karofsky!” Then he sheltered Kurt protectively until everyone gave them some breathing space.

Everyone was there, all of his close friends, and Kurt smiled at each of them, promising Tina he was fine, and telling Adam there was nothing to worry about, and swearing to Mike that he would take it easy. 

Nervously, Quinn asked, “Should you even be here, Kurt? You broke your collarbone. You just got out of your brace. You must be in pain.”

Kurt slipped an arm around Sebastian’s thin but strong shoulders and said, “Some unmentioned people have been nagging at me to get out of bed and get back to school. Apparently wallowing in self pity doesn’t work for everyone.”

“He means me,” Sebastian said, “and his uncle.”

Kurt made sure to flash Quinn a soft smile. “I’m okay to be here. My doctor said so. I just have to be careful. No football try-outs today, apparently.”

Sebastian rolled his eyes. “I hope you don’t think I’d be okay with my boyfriend being a brainless jock.”

Nearby Mike snorted. “What was that, Mr. Lacrosse? I’m pretty sure you’re out there with me during the season.”

Sebastian held up a sharp finger. “Lacrosse is not a sport of Neanderthals like football. It’s a sport of agility, intelligence and stamina.”

“Guys,” Kurt cut through the both of them. “It’s going to take a million years to even walk to my locker. I think I need to get started now, before the warning bell rings.”

Sebastian was acting like a protective mama bear when he told them all, “Kurt will see you guys at lunch or in class, but give him some space right now. It’s his first day back.” And Kurt was really thankful for it. It was hard to try and go back to being relatively mundane. Harder than he’d expected.

Kurt’s locker was a decent distance from Sebastian’s, and when they were there Kurt gave him a gentle push, still aware that Sebastian was injured too, and said, “Go on. I know you need your books, too. I’ll still be here when you get back.”

“I want to walk you to your first class,” Sebastian said determinedly. 

“I will be here,” he repeated. “Plus, you know I need you to carry my bag for me. Your ribs are still better than mine.”

Sebastian parted with and nod and a squeeze to his hand, jetting off to his locker a few hallways over.

As soon as he was gone Kurt leaned back against his locker and took a deep breath. He felt so out of place. Like there was a sea of deserving people around him, and Kurt was most certainly not. How could he be back at school, pretending everything was okay when Noah was six feet under, and Kurt had been the person to put him there? How was that okay? How had the others accepted that so readily?

He hated that they told him it wasn’t his fault. He hated that they lied to his face, because whether they were willing to admit it or now, it was his fault, and they knew it. Everyone knew it, maybe they were just too afraid to say anything.

Noah. God, Kurt missed him so much. They’d gotten to be close over the months, and they’d been circle brothers. Noah always had a unique sense of humor, and Kurt admired him, because Noah always said what they were all thinking. Noah had had charisma and likeability and now he had nothing.

Now …

He saw a flash of Noah just off.

Kurt’s chest froze, air caught in his lungs. There was no way. “Noah?” he breathed out, looking down the hall. He knew what his circle brother looked like from afar. He knew what he looked like from a side profile and even turned away. And that was Noah. Noah was standing further down the hall at a locker. It wasn’t possible, but it was him.

Ignoring a burst of pain in his chest, Kurt took off as fast as he could, determined to get to Noah, desperately searching for it to be him.

Kurt reached the tall boy and wrenched his arm hard, saying, “Noah, I don’t believe--”

“Hey there, beautiful.”

It wasn’t Noah. Kurt felt so stupid. Of course it wasn’t Noah. Noah was dead. Kurt had killed him. And why would Noah have been at school in the first place? What was wrong with him? Was he losing his mind?

“I’m sorry,” Kurt stammered at the handsome boy in front of him. “I thought you were a friend of mine.”

“Noah, right?”

Kurt nodded. “He … never mind. I’m sorry.”

Kurt turned to go but he was caught by a strong hand pulling him closer. The boy in front of him was Noah’s same color, roughly his same height, and wearing his hair buzzed close to the scalp, just like Noah had towards the end. 

“I’m Jacob, but you can call me Jake.”

Kurt felt a little stunned. Jake was certainly handsome enough to make him look twice, but also confident and enigmatic from the short while they’d spent together. Those were the kinds of things that drew Kurt in.

Glancing around for Sebastian, who still wasn’t back yet, Kurt introduced, “I’m Kurt, and I really am sorry about grabbing you like that.”

Jake looked down to where he was still holding Kurt’s wrist. “I’m not.”

And then, like he was seeing again for the first time, it was Noah again. Noah was standing in front of him. Kurt had already established that it wasn’t, and his eyes were telling him the same, but it felt like Noah in front of him. It was the way Noah felt. Jake and Noah felt exactly the same as far as their magic went, and Jake was most certainly a witch. If Kurt hadn’t been startled he would have realized it earlier.

“Jake,” Kurt repeated uneasily, trying to figure out how two people could feel the same to him as far as their magic went. There were twins at the school, Mary and Marie Torres, and they had magic in their blood, but even they felt different. But Jake felt exactly like Noah. “I’ve never seen you before,” Kurt said, and the school was small so that was a surprise.

“I know I would have remembered seeing you, beautiful,” Jake replied, making Kurt blush a deep red. “But all eyes are on you, so you must be important, not just drop dead gorgeous.”

Kurt gave a nervous look around to the other students in the hallway. Some he knew and some he didn’t, all he’d seen before, and Jake was right, they were watching him. Kurt pulled his hand free of Jake’s hold and said, “There was an accident a few weeks ago. A couple of people got hurt and the rumor mill went wild I guess. This is my first day back.” 

“That’s why,” Jake said, with the snap of his fingers and a pearly smile. “I just started here last week.”

“A very late semester transfer,” Kurt observed. “There’s only about a month of school left.”

Jake shrugged. “They’re calling it disciplinary issues. My mom and the police.”

Kurt drew back a little. “You were in trouble?”

“Don’t worry, beautiful,” Jake said, and Kurt was not appreciating the monikers, “nothing bad.”

“It had to be bad if it got you uprooted from wherever you came from and placed here, in the middle of nowhere Washington.”

“Petty theft,” Jake explained with a shrug. “Disorderly conduct. That sort of thing. Vandalism once, too. I did a couple of weeks in juvie and my mom was threatening military school when there was a death in the family.”

Kurt sobered right away. “I’m so sorry. I know what it’s like to lose someone you’re close to.”

“Close to?” Jake scoffed. “I didn’t even know the guy. Half brother, I guess. See, my mom never wanted to talk about my dad, ever, but I guess she was his dirty little secret. He fed her all the right lines and treated her like a princess and pop goes the weasel, here I came. He already had a family apparently, the guy was even married, so he went right on back to them and left my mom pregnant without a care in the world for her or me. Asshole. But I guess it was the guy’s other kid who died. My half brother, and my mom sent me out here to be with my grandmother on my dad’s side, because she’s all alone now.”

Kurt froze. “Wait …”

“I didn’t ask to be here,” Jake continued, and if I’d had my way I’d have chosen military school over this. I didn’t know my half-brother. I didn’t want to. The only thing we shared was a last name. I can’t believe my mom sent me out here.” Jake shook his head “Sorry to unload on you like that. You have a face that’s easy to talk to. Must be because you’re so beautiful.”

Teeth grating together, Kurt asked, “You’re a Puckerman?”

Jake nodded. “And I think you knew my half-brother, because you thought I was him about a second ago.”

“You look like him,” Kurt said slowly. Then dared to add, “You feel like he did, too.” He probably sounded crazy to anyone else, but he was betting Jake knew exactly what he meant. Or at least he desperately hoped so. Something about Jake’s magic felt experienced and practiced. More than just powerful.

Jake leaned in closer, exuding power. “You know why, beautiful.”

Kurt answered, “Because the circle isn’t broken.” It wouldn’t be. Not with Jake there.

Jake winked at him as Sebastian slid back into view, arm around Kurt as he said, “You weren’t at your locker.”

Kurt tore his gaze from Jake. “I was … Sebastian, this is Jake. He’s new.”

Sebastian barely spared Jake a glance. “The bell is going to ring any second.” He pressed a deliberate kiss to Kurt’s cheek. “We should get out of here.”

Sebastian made to pull him away gently as Jake called out, “I’ll see you around, beautiful!”

“Do not,” Kurt warned when they were far enough away, “start a pissing match with him. I can see it on your face right now.”

Sebastian huffed. “I don’t like other people making passes at you.”

Kurt inquired, “Did you see me responding with some stupid, cutesie name? I don’t think so. And I don’t like the name calling from him any more than I did with you. You’re just lucky I was willing to invest enough to see past the attitude you had.”

They made it back to Kurt’s locker and Sebastian apologized, “Sorry. Would you buy the excuse that I’m still a little tense? From … you know.”

Kurt put several books into the bag Sebastian held out for him and nodded. “Because I love you, yes. Okay? Your thinly veiled excuse is accepted, now come on.” Kurt paused, then asked, “Did you stop to talk to Jesse?”

Sebastian frowned. “Yes. He wanted to talk for a second. How could you know?”

Kurt linked his arm through Sebastian’s as they started towards his first period. “Because he leaves an echo everywhere he goes. It’s not like a magical imprint, and it’s not the kind I feel from people or places, but like a distorted feeling that is all him. Maybe it’s because he’s gifted, but he feels out of place all of the time. It only last for a short while, but you’ve got his echo all over you. What did he want to talk about?”

“You know,” Sebastian waved off, “save the cheerleader, save the world.”

“Could you be serious?”

“Just stuff,” Sebastian promised. “About being careful, even with the truce right now. I’ll tell you more later.”

“Okay.” There was an odd twinge to Sebastian’s expression, but Kurt accepted his words as truth and nodded, satisfied. “But back to Jake.”

Sebastian groaned “Anything else.”

“It’s important.” Kurt tugged on his hand. “Tell me you feel it. You know I don’t have to tell you exactly who he feels like.”

As far as first days back went, Kurt thought it was more than fine. He spent the day surrounded by people who cared about him and missed him and were treated him like already splintered glass, but it was made bearable by the way that Sebastian never left his side and allowed Kurt to boss him around like he didn’t care at all. The teachers were overly lenient and Kurt found he couldn’t sit upright at a piano for more than a few minutes without significant pain, but the music director barely cried at all over the news. 

At the end of the week Kurt told Sebastian on the walk back to the school parking lot, “I should be able to come back to work by June, if I’ve still got a job waiting.”

Sebastian pinched his arm. “Of course you still have a job waiting. Plus, I wasn’t exactly fibbing when I told you my mom’s been sober for a while now. This could be it, Kurt. She could be getting her shit together. She’s actually working, and I want you to see it.”

“I don’t want you to get your hopes up,” Kurt said kindly.

“I know.” Sebastian helped guide him into the car’s front seat. “And thanks.”

It took Kurt a few minutes to realize that he and Sebastian weren’t driving to any place that Kurt had ever been before. But when he asked Sebastian only smiled at him and said it was a secret.

“This,” Kurt declared when they pulled up in front of one of the oldest cemeteries in town, “is the worst surprise ever.”

“You have no faith,” Sebastian chuckled, and moved to help him from the car. “I want to show you something,” he told Kurt when they were walking along the pathway in the cemetery. “I asked your uncle about this because I wasn’t sure if you’d ever been before, or if you even knew this was here, and I think you’ll be interested.”

Kurt looked around. As far as creepy cemeteries went, this one took the prize. Maybe because there were family tombs everywhere, and grave markers from hundreds of years ago sprinkled in with only a few new ones. Older graveyards were always scarier than the newer ones.

“Yes, I’ve been to a graveyard before.”

“But have you been to your family’s plot?” Sebastian asked.

“Huh?”

As they walked Sebastian explained, “All of the old families are buried out here in family plots. The Smythes are over there.” Sebastian pointed. “And the Hummels are up here.”

Each family plot seemed to be divided in the slightest way, and Kurt couldn’t help remarking at how amazing it was to see all of the Hummel family names displayed on either smaller markers, or larger, group tombs.

“I think you’ve got family here going back more than a couple hundred years. And I know this isn’t exactly romantic, but look, come with me. Be careful stepping up.” Sebastian led Kurt over to the newer portion of the section where two identical graves stones were placed deliberately touching. “You mother married a Hummel, so she got to be buried here, and I talked to your uncle. You never had a real funeral for your father, but he made sure you dad got moved out here to be with her. This is their part of the plot. I thought you’d want to see that even though it took the afterlife, they’re together again.”

With a groan Kurt knelt down in front of the two grave stones, his eyes burning with tears as he realized his parents were buried next to each other. “Sebastian, thank you.”

Sebastian knelt next to him with a hand on Kurt’s shoulder. “No matter what happened between them with the accident, and despite my mother’s infatuation with your father, your parents really loved each other, Kurt. They would have been together forever if they could have, and at least they have each other now.”

With a laugh, Kurt asked, “Is this the part where you ask me if I want to be buried with you on the Smythe family plot?”

Sebastian gave him a cheeky grin. “You’ve obviously the dominant power in this relationship, Kurt. I’d be happy enough to be buried here, with you. I could get used to being a Hummel.”

Kurt reached out to run his fingers over the smooth stone of his father’s grave. “Dad,” he breathed out, “I know you were scared to come home, and scared to bring me home, but I almost missed out on knowing who I was. I almost missed Sebastian. I know why you did what you did, and I love you, but I’m glad to be here, and I hope you’re happy to be home with mom, too.”

“He’s at rest with the love of his life,” Sebastian said quietly. “How could he not be?”

Kurt practically threw himself into Sebastian’s arms as he hugged him tightly. “Thank you for bringing me here. Thank you. I didn’t know.”

“This is your legacy.” Sebastian hugged him as tightly as he dared. “You’ve come home, Kurt. That’s all. You’ve come home.”


	22. Chapter 22

California was sunny, crowed and loud. All of the thing that Cassandra hated. She longed for her quiet, cold hometown where she knew the people all by name. As far as she was concerned, the only thing California had going for it were the beaches. They were all magnificent and not at all like the ones in Washington.

She strolled down the street for a few more minutes before she reached her destination, noting that the small street side restaurant was more than full, and the patrons were chatting away loudly about the food, their personal lives and a million other things. Cassandra hated that she needed to squeeze her way through them.

“Oh. You’re here.”

Cassandra huffed as she reached her table, eyes locking onto the woman already seated there. “Of course I’m here. Six months. But California?”

The woman brushed at her bangs, menu open in front of her. “I like California.”

“I can barely breathe here from all of the pollution,” Cassandra complained, then opened her own menu. “What looks good?”

“I was thinking of getting the shrimp garden salad. It’s been a while since I had shrimp.”

Cassandra quickly found it on the menu. “You can get a half portion here. Maybe I’ll get that and something else.”

The man one table over from them was leering, and another two tables down there was a family of unmanageable children causing trouble. Cassandra hated them all. She hated all the norms with their cell phones and cubical jobs and their complete and utter lack of appreciation for the Great Mother.

“Did you want to get an appetizer? Maybe we could split one?”

“I don’t care,” Cassandra said, feeling tired all of the sudden. She wanted to go back to her hotel room.

“Cassie.”

Cassandra looked up at the moniker. “I’m okay. It was a long trip. We’ll get whatever you want. If only to get me out of California the faster.”

The woman arched an eyebrow and repeated, “I like California.”

“Well, I hate it here.”

“You know why it had to be here this time,” Cassandra was told.

Voice lowering, Cassandra said, “The vote passed.”

The woman scoffed. “Of course it passed. Both councils are reeling from recent events. They’re scared, pathetic and pitiful. They would have voted for anything to preserve their fragile peace. But it doesn’t matter. It was inevitable and this doesn’t change anything. The goal was never the vote. The vote was only a means to an end.”

Their waitress was drifting near them as Cassandra asked, “You just wanted them to see him for what he is?”

The woman grinned. “I wanted them to know to fear him.”

When their orders had been placed, Cassandra leaned forward and said, “You should ask me about him. About what happened.”

“You look ready to burst at the seams.”

“It was glorious.” Cassandra fanned herself with a napkin, partially from the memory and partially from the California sun that she wasn’t used to. “Magnificent, even. He could have ripped apart the sky, destroyed everyone and done it all without batting an eye. He’s more that gifted. He’s … exactly what you said he would be. Everything is coming to a head, and he’s the one we assumed him to be.”

“He’s more than he even knows,” the woman said. “And he fears himself right now, but that will change.”

Reluctantly, Cassandra admitted, “I never understood why you would willingly steer him towards that demon. I questioned you, and I know that was wrong, but I did. I almost didn’t … I might have spoiled everything because I was scared for him. He is my godson. My first instinct is to protect him.”

“He needed to be tested,” the woman argued. “The demon was his test, for both strength and fortitude. He passed, but there was no putting such a test off.”

“And now Puckerman is dead.”

“There are sacrifices in these moments,” the woman said, stirring a spoon through her tea. “He was not meant to live. You told me that much. He was nothing but a catalyst, easily replaced and more easily forgotten.”

Cassandra felt regret in that moment. “Kurt is beside himself with grief. He blames himself. He truly believed he could pull the demon from his friend. He thought he could save the boy.” She took a drink from her water. “I was not there, but I’ve heard the accounts. Kurt exceeded expectations whilst dealing with the demon. He killed it within the host. He preempted the necessity of drawing it out first. That’s never been done before.”

The woman said, “Kurt is strong. He’s a Hummel. He’ll press through whatever guilt he feels over the matter. This wasn’t his first casualty, and neither will it be the last time he kills something with a face he knows. The hard choices haven’t even begun to appear. He’ll need to toughen up before then.”

Carefully, Cassandra asked, “Do you think it was enough?”

“Impossible to say,” the woman said. “Have you seen anything lately?”

Cassandra shook her head. “I’ve been … having difficulties as of late. Nothing has been coming to me, and there was never a time I could say this happened. It’s almost as if I’m being blocked. There’s some kind of interference.”

“What about your protégé?”

Cassandra couldn’t help cracking a smile at the thought of Jesse. “He has an even stronger connection to the Great Mother than I do. He couldn’t be blocked. It’s not possible. She speaks directly to him. And he’s more than up to the job at hand. He will be to Kurt everything he was born to be. He’s very capable, if only too curious.”

“Curious?”

“He’s always been too curious for his own good,” she said with a sigh. “And too noble. He makes choices based upon his emotions, and how he feels towards people. It’s a flaw, but in the end it may work out to Kurt’s advantage. I promise you, Kurt is wary of him right now, but they will grow to be dependent on each other. Kurt will trust Jesse, and Jesse will curry Kurt’s favor.”

“Good,” the woman rumbled. “And does he suspect anything?”

“No,” Cassandra said. “He’s curious, not suspicious by nature. He won’t raise any questions to Kurt, and Kurt won’t know which ones to ask. However … nothing can stay hidden forever. You know that.”

Cassandra’s companion was beautiful. More beautiful than Cassandra had ever hoped to be, and she knew when the people around them looked, it wasn’t Cassandra they looked at. It had always been something painful. A confidence jab.

“For now,” the woman said, “for Kurt’s own protection, he needs to believe exactly what we deem appropriate. He isn’t ready for anything more, and he would only endanger the lives of other players who are important. For now there is a status quo to be met. Most importantly, he is not to know who Constance died to protect. Kurt would stop at nothing if he knew. He cannot be privy to that information. Not yet.”

“Kurt is ready for some things,” Cassandra argued. “What he did to the demon, and how he asserted himself, he’s proven that much. And he’s got Daniel as a resource now. Daniel knows things, things he will share with Kurt because of he loyalty he now feels towards him. However, Daniel can feel in his bones the one thing you don’t want Kurt to know. He will never simply roll over and accept what he’s been told. Jesse won’t go snooping, but Daniel will. And when he finds out for certain he’ll tell Kurt. He won’t hold back from Kurt and the illusion will be shattered.”

“Exactly.” The woman folded her hands on her lap as their food arrived. And then, when they were alone again, she said, “Daniel can teach him the things he’ll need to survive. Daniel is invaluable to him, and his allegiance to Kurt will work in our favor. Cassie, both you and I know what’s coming. We’ve always known, and Kurt doesn’t have the luxury of knowing right now. He is in the dark, but we are not. We’ve planned for this for many years and I know what Kurt will need to survive. Daniel and Jesse are just what we need regardless of their individual risks. But our greatest asset is the Smythe boy.”

Cassandra reported, “It was Sebastian who stopped Kurt. Or rather, who brought him under control. Kurt would have wiped the earth clean for miles if his life hadn’t been at stake. He’s Kurt’s one great weakness.”

“He’s Kurt’s greatest strength,” the woman argued, “but when the time comes, he’ll die too. Whether he means it or not, Sebastian Smythe will hold him back from his full potential, but we’ll leave him be for now. There’s no sense in getting rid of him too prematurely.”

“I don’t want to--”

The woman ground out, “Sacrifices have to be made, Cassie. For Kurt’s sake, and no one is more important than Kurt. That is our purpose, Cassie. Not to pretend as if any other boy’s life is more important or valuable than Kurt’s. Everyone is replaceable. Everyone is expendable and when the time comes we will get rid of Sebastian Smythe.”

Cassandra bit her lip. “If he dies, Kurt won’t have a care in the world for anyone else. He won’t be able to control himself. He won’t be contained. It will be chaos.”

“It might just be enough. If we’re very, very lucky.” The woman pushed some of the salad on her plate around, mixing in the shrimp. “But that’s nothing to worry over for a while. That isn’t our main focus. The here and now is. As always, Kurt is our focus. He needs to continue to grow stronger.”

“He’s amazingly strong now.”

The woman shook her head. “He isn’t strong enough.”

“Yet,” Cassandra countered, feeling bold and a bit annoyed. “He has time. He’ll get there.”

“Of course he will.” The woman gave her first genuine smile. “I know he will, Cassie. Because he’s my son, and he was always destined to surpass me. I always knew he was my life’s purpose. I knew I was meant to have him for this. Do you think I enjoyed breaking up Burt and Evangeline?”

“I know you didn’t,” Cassandra said quietly. But no matter how cold and steely Elizabeth tried to treat the topic, Cassandra knew that Lizzie had loved, and still continued to love Burt Hummel with every bit of her heart. There was no doubt in that. 

“But I did,” she continued, “because I knew what would be necessary. I knew Kurt would be the only thing to save us, and he had to be equal parts Hummel and Murdock. I did what I had to, Cassie.”

“Lizzy, I’m not judging you. I never have. And I know as well as you what happens when Hummels and Smythes mix.”

Elizabeth Hummel chewed thoughtfully on a piece of lettuce and then said, “Kurt’s future was laid out before I was even born. He has his part to play and so do we. For now we continue to build Kurt’s allies. We give him all the aid we can, and we make sure that he is protected until such time that he’s ready.”

Cassandra picked up her own fork and stared down at her food. “I won’t argue with you.”

They ate the rest of their meal in relative silence, and then when it was time to go Elizabeth paid the bill and said, “Watch over him in my stead, Cassie. You’re his godmother for a reason. You have to be there where I can’t.”

“I won’t let anything happen to him,” she vowed. “I will protect him as if he were my own son.”

They parted without any more words and Cassandra knew she wouldn’t see Elizabeth again for another six months. 

She despised the lying and the secrecy and all the pain that she knew both caused, but there had never been any mistaking the visions she’d experience first hand. Kurt was the key to their future. He was their salvation. Burdened and weighted. And for that, Cassandra had never felt more sorry for anyone.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And that is it! This has truly been a labor of love. I can't tell you how often I was madly scribbling in my notebook (because I seriously can't write fic without hand written outlines) and crossing things out, and rewriting right until the very end. This fic, in a lot of ways, wrote itself, or was born out of a necessity for me to play around with some of the more deserving characters on that trainwreck of a show Glee. Kurt and Sebastian, and the dynamic they SHOULD have had, has always been appealing, and that's all my imagination needed. 
> 
> But I digress, I really, really enjoyed writing this fic, and talking to all of you about it, and just the whole process of posting. There IS a sequel in the works, mostly because I realized that if I didn't split it into two, this fic would been 400,000 words long, and I'd probably lose my mind. So look forward to more Kurt, more Sebastian, and more action.
> 
> Thank you so much to everyone who left a comment, bookmarked, or just lurked around, enjoying the fic. This is the moment to leave a final comment and let me know what you thought about the overall story. What did you like? What didn't you like? What do you want to see more of? The best part of the writer to reader relationship is the communication, so communicate with me! And keep and eye out for that sequel.


End file.
